Everything to Lose
by Dystopian Visionary
Summary: Sierra Marcus gets transferred to Balamb Garden from a normal school in Dollet, with the potential to become a SeeD. All the SeeDs from the last graduating class are working in Garden, and Squall still protects Rinoa until one fateful day... NEW CHAPs!
1. Chpater 1: New Beginnings

It was a bright and sunny day at Balamb Garden. Not like that was

uncharacteristic though, because if the weather was less than agreeable, the huge

academy could just get up and fly its way to warmer climates. I gazed up, astonished, as I

laid eyes on my new school, the place where I would be taught to be a SeeD – a soldier

trained exclusively for fighting evil sorceresses.

I don't remember exactly how my professors had talked me into it. They told me I

had much more potential than to just stay in our little Dollet Academy that only taught

the basics needed to get a boring job in something like a flower shop. In my opinion,

Dollet had too many of those already. I had never dreamed that soon I'd be going to the

most exclusive garden ever to roam the earth.

I was still awed at the sheer enormity of the place at the actual entrance when I

heard a high-pitched, very excited voice cry, "WELCOME TO BALAMB GARDEN!!"

I jumped backwards ten feet in the air and landed on my butt. There was a group

of people in front of me, most of who were snickering. One girl at the front who had

short, sort of strawberry blond hair and a yellowy-orange dress, was the only one not

laughing. She turned around to the others and cried in that unmistakable pitch, "Oh, give

her a break, guys! It's scary transferring to a new school, I know where she's coming

from! Y'know, for a welcome committee I bet you're not making her feel very

welcome!"

I staggered to my feet. "No, it's ok," I told her, dusting off my black, sleeveless,

thigh-length jacket with a tight, long sleeved red shirt underneath, covering what chest

area the black one wouldn't. My red bellbottoms looked fine upon inspection, and my

new black shoes hadn't seemed to suffer even a scratch. I blinked my hazel eyes as I

adjusted my dark, plastic-rimmed glasses on my nose and flicked a few stray strands of

auburn hair out of my face. "You just surprised me. I didn't expect there to be a

welcoming committee."

"Well, Balamb Welcoming Committee, at your service," she replied, not in the

least bit shy. "My name's Selphie! What's yours? Where are you from? Ready for your

official guided tour?"

"Uh-" Before I could answer any of those questions Selphie whisked me away by

the hand and started dragging me around the garden, chattering the whole while.

"...that's the Library, though you'll hardly need to ever go there because almost

everything is already on the computer...and that's the Training Grounds. Watch out for

T-Rexaurs, we've had six separate injuries with first years in the past month...the dorms

are up that way, you'll have your own by tonight...and that's the Cafeteria. If you want

hot dogs, don't ask, they're not there..."

"Is...all this...going...to be...on the...exam?" I puffed when we stopped for a

break at the Quad, which was "very relaxing for its running water and a nice place to

study if need be".

"Huh?" Selphie said, tilted her head to one side. "I'm no teacher."

I looked up and smiled at her. "I was joking."

"Oh!" she cried, and smiled that smile that I was sure I'd see a lot of now that I

was here. "I'm sorry, it's just that you really haven't said much since you got here." I

rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. She giggled.

Lastly, Selphie showed me around to the classrooms on the top floor before I had

to go see the Headmaster. At this point I saw her as a godsend. I never would've been

able to navigate through the hallways and different places alone, and I'd be too afraid to

ask anybody. And to boot, I am the adventurous type. Who knows what might have

happened if I sauntered into the Training Ground thinking I was going to the Library?

"Well, I guess you'd better get to Headmaster Cid's office, huh?" Selphie said

after passing the last classroom, which was apparently closest to the deck/Cid's office.

"I guess so," I said a little sadly. I didn't want to say goodbye to my first new

friend so soon.

"Oh, don't be so glum!" Selphie exclaimed. "Listen, I'll meet you in the Cafeteria

at lunchtime. I have some friends you'd probably like to meet. How about it?"

"Well, alright," I replied. Then I grinned. "Just so I know, what's the next best

thing to eat there besides hot dogs?"

Selphie laughed. "There is no "next best thing". You grab what you can and go."

"Sounds like survival of the fittest," I replied. "I like challenges, even if it is over

lunch."

"By the way," Selphie said, "you still haven't told me your name."

"Oh, heh." I blushed. "Sorry, you didn't really give me a chance. It's Sierra."

"Ok, well I'll see you at lunch Sierra!" Selphie called as she ran off.

"Bye Selphie!" I called back, just in time before she rounded the corner out of

sight.

My nerves returned as I pressed the elevator button to the deck. It seemed that

there'd be a lot to get used to here. As the doors slid apart with a soft "ding", something

dawned on me: What if I was behind the rest of my class? I was already in my final year,

and I was sure that Balamb Garden taught most everything differently from my old

school in Dollet. What if Headmaster Cid turned me away because it was too late to teach

me everything?

It was all I could do to keep my hands from shaking as I walked forward and

knocked on the double doors. "Come in," came a voice from within. I turned the

elaborate handle on one of them and admitted myself, closing it softly behind me.

"Ah, you must be Sierra Marcus," an almost plump man who looked about in his

late forties said as he rose from behind a large oak desk piled with all sorts of papers.

"I've heard a lot about you, such as you've never attended a garden before. Is that

correct?"

"Y-yes sir," I stammered. "Is that a problem?"

"Heavens no," he replied as he came around the desk and stood in front of me.

"It's true that you won't know exactly everything your fellow classmates do at the

moment, but if a normal school recommended you, let alone at such a high level, then

you must have a very wide range of talent open for us to work with."

"I...I suppose so," I said, trying to understand what was going to happen to me.

"My former professors told me that I had too much potential to stay where I was so they

sent me here."

"And with just cause!" Cid exclaimed. "My dear, you are taking the first step in

your journey to become a SeeD. However, to start you off for your first week I think I'll

have you teamed up with some current SeeDs to get a GF for yourself, how does that

sound?"

I grinned from ear to ear. "You really think I can handle that already?"

"I have every faith in you," he replied, smiling back. "Right now, why don't you

go down to the cafeteria and get some lunch. You'll set out first period this afternoon."

"Yes sir, thank you," I said politely as I turned to leave. I tried as hard as I could

not to run back to the elevator. I couldn't wait to tell Selphie.

Once back downstairs, I got lost and had to retrace my steps from the entrance.

"Ok...that's the Library with information that's rather useless cuz it's already on the

computers...Training Grounds complete with T-Rexaurs...Dorms...Cafeteria without hot

dogs." I stopped for a moment. "I wonder if there's a reason for that." A bell chimed out

of nowhere, and a rush of students came from much a similar place. Lunch had officially

begun.

As I turned the corner to enter the cafeteria, I saw two male students playing

Triple Triad. I hadn't known that Balamb students played cards! I sighed, missing my

own cards. I had traded them off at the orphanage back home in Dollet before I left. It

was my own decision, because I thought that I was far too old for cards.

"I'll just have to start from scratch," I told myself as I took the end of the lunch

line, scanning around for any sign of Selphie. I couldn't see her anywhere. My eyes were

still elsewhere as the line moved forward. Unfortunately, I didn't stop when the rest of it

did and bumped into the person standing in front of me.

"Oof!" I tumbled backwards onto the floor, miraculously, for the second time that

day. I gazed up to behold a guy with rather dark-looking eyes and short blond hair,

wearing a long gray coat with very interesting red crosses near the tops of the sleeves,

glaring down at me from on high.

"Watch where you're going, you little klutz!" he yelled. He bent down just

enough so as not to lose any of his dignity to take a closer look at me and smirked. "I've

never seen you around here before. You must be new. You'd better watch yourself

around here or you'll find yourself in some rather unfriendly company. You got it?"

Before I could nod to acknowledge what he had said, Selphie leapt to my rescue

out of the blue and began collecting me from off the floor. "Leave her alone Seifer! She

doesn't need to be bullied by the likes of you on her first day! Can't you find someone

else to pick on?"

"Well, well, if it isn't the Espresso Poster Girl. You know, I'd love to come pick

on some of your little chicken-wuss friends, but I've got other plans." He started walking

off. "Catch you later, Sophie."

"IT'S SELPHIE, YOU POMPOUS IGNORAMUS OF A JERK!!" she screamed

after him. "THE LEAST YOU CAN DO WHEN YOU'RE INSULTING SOMEONE IS

GET THEIR NAME RIGHT!!"

I covered my ears and just stared at her for a moment. "Selphie, you yelled in my

ear." I gazed after Seifer curiously. "Was it necessary to yell at him like that? It WAS my

fault, after all."

"Oh, sorry Sierra," she apologized. "It's just that if you don't show Seifer who's

boss he'll walk all over you."

"I didn't mean to cause a scene," I sighed as I dusted myself off for the second

time that day. "The last thing I want right now is publicity like that."

"Aww, don't worry about it," she reassured me. "Let's get your lunch and I'll

introduce you to my friends, ok?" At this point, we were at the front of the line.

"Alright," I said. I pointed to a plate with some Shepherd's Pie one it. "How's that

supposed to be?"

"Ick," she shuddered. "You've got a lot to learn about the cafeteria lunches."

In the end, after much debate and arguing, Selphie picked out my whole lunch,

which consisted of a Caesar chicken wrap, a small fries, a small chocolate milk and a

green Jell-O cup. Amazingly enough, it all cost less than 5 Gil.

But before I could even take a second look at it, Selphie was leading me around

the numerous tables, filled with talking people, most of whom were wearing blue school

uniforms. I was expecting to stop at one of these tables, but when she finally sat down, I

noticed that every person was dressed casually. That's when I realized: Selphie and her

friends were full-fledged SeeDs.

"Ok, these are my friends," Selphie said, motioning to the table of people,

pointing to each one respectively. First was a cute guy with light brown hair and blue

eyes who was wearing a black jacket with fur around the collar, sitting next to a black-

haired girl with dark eyes and a long, light-blue sleeveless sweater with wings on the

back. "This is Squall and Rinoa. He took charge in Headmaster Cid's absence during the

sorceress hunt." I could tell just by the way they sat together that they were a couple.

Already I was feeling a little jealous. Squall nodded and flicked a hand at me and Rinoa

managed a small, "Hi."

Next was a girl with long blond hair, which was all tied back besides her bangs.

She was wearing an orange outfit. "This is Quistis. She's a teacher here, so if you have

many questions, you can ask her." Quistis smiled and said clearly and instructor-like,

"Hello."

Before Selphie could move on, the guy with the spiky blond hair and a tattoo on

his face sitting next to Quistis grinned and said, "Hey, I'm Zell. I'm a master fighter and

GF expert and...well, master all-around everything."

"Everything except grabbing hot dogs for lunch, huh Zell?" the other guy sitting

at the table joked, elbowing him in the ribs. He had long bangs and a longer ponytail

falling down out of a black cowboy hat. He was wearing a long beige coat. Selphie

wrapped her arms around him and again I felt the small twinge of jealousy.

"This is Irvine," she said happily. "He's mine, though he wouldn't be able to stop

being a lady's man to save his life."

Irvine smiled and said, "Hey." He then turned to Selphie. "Stop it Sephie, you'll

scare her off. I don't want her to think she hasn't got a even a bit of a chance, after all."

"Oh geez," Selphie sighed as she let him go. "Anyway, everybody, say hello to

the newest member of Balamb Garden! This is Sierra."

I smiled sheepishly. "Hello everybody," I managed to croak as I sat down across

from Zell with my tray of food.

"I see Selphie managed to weasel her way into picking out your lunch for you,"

Irvine snickered as he eyed what was on my tray.

"I just don't want her making any of the wrong decisions!" Selphie cried,

defending herself. "Without my help, she was going to pick the Shepherd's Pie!"

Everyone laughed, and I managed to catch Squall's eye. He was chuckling along

with the rest of them. I found that a little strange, because Squall looked like the kind of

guy who hardly ever so much as smiled.

"Well, if you can't eat your way through to it, I got dibs on your Jell-O, ok?" Zell

said to me as he leaned his elbow on the table.

"As usual," Irvine said, grinning.

"So Sierra," Quistis said as she leaned forward a little, in a desperate attempt to

change the topic of conversation, "what's your first order of business here at Balamb? Do

you think you're up to par with the rest of Balamb's curriculum?"

I choked down a mouthful of my chicken wrap. "Headmaster Cid said I'm pretty

far behind everyone else actually, especially just coming out of a normal school," I

replied.

"Wow," Selphie chimed in out of nowhere. "You didn't tell me that. So, what IS

your first mission?"

"I'm to go out after lunch with a couple of SeeDs and get a GF for myself," I said

casually.

A fork clattered onto an empty plate and I looked up, startled. Everyone at the

table was staring at me, even Squall and Rinoa, who both seemed to have just come out

of their own little world at what I had just said.

"You're going after a GF on your FIRST DAY??" Zell exclaimed.

"Cid must have some really high hopes for YOU!!" Selphie cried. "Never have I

ever heard about a normal student being pushed so far ahead on their first day!"

"Neither have I," Squall said thoughtfully. Everyone's attention seemed to be

diverted to him as he spoke. "Cid must have some incredibly high hopes, indeed. What

does he think he's trying to prove with this publicity stunt? It's almost impossible for

some students who've been here several years to get a GF so soon, let alone for this

newbie."

I felt my face turning red with embarrassment. Squall hadn't said a good thing

about me yet. Angrily, I stood up and left the table. "Zell, you can have my Jell-O, I just

lost my appetite!" I called over my shoulder as I stalked away.

Not being able to think of anywhere else to go and gather my thoughts, I found

myself standing at the railing and staring into the running water at the Quad. I had never

been so insulted in my life. What kind of incredible jerk makes such a judgment without

even getting to know a person first? The nerve!

It was then that I heard a soft bell chime, the same one that had started lunch.

'Sierra Marcus, please report to the entrance for your lesson. I repeat, Sierra Marcus,

please report to the entrance for your lesson." I sighed a sigh of relief. At least they

hadn't said "first lesson".

But upon reaching my destination, I groaned inwardly. Who was standing there

waiting for me but Squall himself? With loathing in my eyes I approached him.

He avoided my gaze by looking at the floor as he asked, "Do you have a

weapon?"

"No," I said defiantly. "It's my first day in a garden. Or did you forget that already?"

He looked up from the floor and our eyes met. His were angry, and full of fire. I

crossed my arms and took a very impatient stance as I glared back. He sort of growled

before holding out to me a box about as big as one of my old school textbooks that was

wrapped up in white paper and adorned with a red, curly bow. "A gift from the

headmaster," he prompted me, so I took it.

I carefully removed the bow, tore off the wrapping and opened the box. Inside

was a pair of metal glove/arm guards, which stuck off at the elbow. They were black and

decorated with elaborate gold etchings, and looked incredibly sharp. "They're beautiful,"

I whispered.

"Well, put them on and let's go. I want to get this job over with as soon as

possible," Squall sighed as he put the blunt edge of his huge Lionheart gunblade on his

shoulder and started towards the gates.

I dumped the box and the wrapping into a nearby trashcan, and shoved the bow

into my pants pocket before I made a move to follow. Why did it have to be Squall, of all

people? It was apparent just by the way he remained a number of paces in front of me the

whole walk that he disliked me.

When we had reached the fire cave, he finally spoke again. "Do you know what

GF we're going to get?" he asked with a tone of annoyance in his voice.

I looked past him into the cave. "Obviously something of a fire element," I said,

staring him in the face again. "So I suppose it would be Ifrit."

"Very good," Squall replied a little too sourly. "Now may I ask who told you to

say that?"

I gritted my teeth. That was the last straw. "Why do you assume that someone

told me what to say?!" I cried. "Just because I've never attended a garden before doesn't

mean that I don't know that what's behind you right now is a fire cave and the only GF I

could think of who has that element is Ifrit! I used to play Triple Triad, you know! I'm

not STUPID!!" Before I could give Squall a chance to respond, I dashed ahead and past

him, into the cave.

"Wait!" I heard him calling after me. "Sierra, wait!" But I didn't stop. Anything

he said after that was lost among the roar of the lava around me. I followed the rock

pathway, as it was the only way to actually walk without falling into the bubbling hotness

below, staring straight ahead the whole time.

'Who needs an egotist like him?' I fumed along with the lava under my feet. 'So

what if I'm new? It doesn't mean he has to treat me like I'm a complete and utter moron.'

I heard footsteps running behind me, so I ran faster. I didn't want Squall to catch up with

me. I wanted to prove to him that I was capable of handling myself, despite how

incompetent he seemed to think I was.

But even with that thought on my mind, I slipped on a small stone and lost my

footing. I fell over the side of the rock path, and dangled just a few feet above the boiling

lava. I clung to the rocks for dear life, but my grasp was starting to slip. "Help!" I cried.

"Help!! Squall, help me!!!"

For a moment I feared that he had already run past me and hadn't seen my

fingertips struggling to hang on. But all of a sudden he was there, kneeling down to me,

gunblade tossed aside on the pathway. "Take my hand! Hurry!" he cried.

But I didn't. "Why did you assume that I didn't have a sweet clue about

ANYTHING at Balamb Garden??" I called back.

"Sierra, can we talk about this in a minute, after you're back on the pathway??"

Squall replied. "Take my hand! That's it, now try to get your footing on the side and help

me pull you up!!"

My feet scrambled on the loose rock, but I was back on the path in no time.

Panting, I asked him again, "So...why do you assume...that I have no...gasp...idea

about your garden?"

Squall looked at me, with those same eyes that I couldn't believe were so angry

and full of hate earlier. "I wanted to apologize," he replied. "It was mean of me to say

those things. I shouldn't have judged you based on where you came from. If you were

sent to Balamb at all, then you must have at least some potential." He offered a gloved

hand. "Friends?"

I smiled and shook. "Friends." Then I stood and looked around. "So, when do you

think we'll run into Ifrit?"

"Soon," Squall replied. "Come on, let's keep going." We took a few steps, feeling

the smoldering heat before he asked, "Um...what's your favorite ice cream?"

From there, Squall and I ended up talking about everything from GFs to star

signs; from Balamb Garden to Triple Triad; from mogs to chocobos and back. We were

just getting on the topic of his SeeD exam mission when, from out of nowhere, Ifrit

appeared with a loud roar.

"Alright, this is where you prove your worth, Sierra!" Squall called out to me.

"Are you ready?"

"Y-you bet!" I called back, though completely terrified. This was the most

exciting moment of my life, but I never even so much as idly threatened the other kids at

the orphanage, let alone defeat and take a GF all for my very own. So, feeling like it was

now or never, I dove headfirst into battle.

Big mistake. I had absolutely no idea how to use the weapons strapped to my

arms. Every movement I made to strike the huge monster missed by a mile and a half, but

I refused to give up. Squall's cheering made me feel even more confident that I'd get the

hang of it eventually.

But wait, that didn't seem like cheering at all. I could barely hear him, but he

looked very distressed. I dove for cover behind a nearby rock, then dashed behind a

second, using them as shields until I got close as I could to Squall.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" he cried at me.

"I already told you, dammit! No!" I yelled. "I'm running on pure determination

here, but it doesn't seem to be enough. You're a full-fledged SeeD, Squall! Tell me what

I should do!"

"I can't teach you a lot from behind a rock," Squall replied. "But never mind that

now, you'll train back at garden. Let me see...for now I can teach you a few simple

techniques. Watch closely, and do exactly as I do."

He showed me a few simple arm movements; swing the guard part of the gauntlet

to stun, slash with the sharp tips by my elbows to strike, and cross my arms together in

front of me to block. Ifrit roared loudly, thrashing about, as I mimicked every stance he

made. Within three minutes, I found myself back in the fight.

"Strike swiftly and try to avoid getting hit!" he exclaimed as I pummeled

forwards.

Meanwhile in my mind, I was trying to remember the poses. 'Stun, strike, block.

Stun, strike, block.' I clubbed Ifrit on the lower back with the backside of my right-

handed gauntlet, then slashed at its side with the point of my left-handed one. It roared

something awful and swung behind to try and smack what was bothering it. I blocked its

huge hands with the backsides of my gauntlets, and scurried to the side to make some

distance between it and myself.

"You're doing great, Sierra!" I heard Squall cry. "Keep it up!"

"Now that's the kind of support I wanted to hear from the beginning!" I yelled

back.

The battle lasted another ten minutes, and I was beginning to grow weary.

"Squall," I half-cried, half-wheezed, "I can't keep this up forever! Ifrit doesn't seem

nearly as tired as I am. I want to finish this, but I can't!"

"Yes, you can! Just keep doing what I showed you!" Squall prompted me. "You'll

have Ifrit on the ropes in no time! Trust me!!"

"Okay, if you think I'm capable of – Ahhhh!" Ifrit had swung out at me with one

of his huge arms and I went flying across the cave. I collided with the wall and landed

hard on the rock floor. I was still conscious, by some miracle, and I knew after a spill like

that I just had to be bleeding.

I struggled to stand up, but each time I moved even a millimeter, pain shot up

through my legs. I looked down, and in several places my pants had been torn and huge

gashes were visible. It was hard to tell which ones were causing me to bleed most

profusely, because my blood blended in with the color of my bellbottoms. I hoped to god

that they weren't broken, but I collapsed against a large stalagmite jutting out of the floor.

I couldn't get up. It was impossible.

Hearing Ifrit roar again, I looked up quickly. It had located me and was fast

covering the distance between us. I winced, but didn't look away. Prepared for the worst,

I had vowed long ago that when death came, I'd stare it directly in the face until the end.

But from out of nowhere, like a knight in shining armor, Squall jumped between

my foe and I, gunblade held out in front of him. Ifrit stopped, and sized up his new

opponent. "Get up!!" he yelled at me over his shoulder. "C'mon, you'll be swimming in a

river of fire if you don't move it!"

"I can't stand up!!" I cried back, fanning a hand at my shredded legs. Squall

glanced down at them, then at Ifrit, then back at me. Before I could muster another word,

Squall dropped the Lionheart, gathered me up in his arms, and raced along the pathway to

the exit. I stayed huddled near him and didn't dare say a word until we were out of the

cave.

"Why didn't Ifrit chase us?" I asked Squall as he caught his breath when we were

safely outside. He had propped me up against the cave wall, away from the exit, and sat

next to me, panting and wheezing.

"Ifrit...gasp...doesn't like to...leave his...gasp...cave...if

he...doesn't...have...to...wheeze..." Squall choked.

"I see," I replied, looking down at my legs. My face fell and I sighed heavily.

"These were my favorite pair of pants, too. I knew I should've asked for a uniform on the

day I enrolled."

Squall turned his head toward me, gaping. "You're worried about your pants of

all things? Just LOOK at those cuts! We have to get you to sick bay, right now."

He stood and made to pick me up again, but I stopped him. "Squall, aren't you

going to go back in and get your gunblade?" I asked.

He stood with a hand behind his head. "Are you kidding? Going in there without a

weapon would be suicide now! Besides, my training states that we have to get you to a

doctor right away, so to hell with anything else." He picked me up again. "Here, put your

arms around my neck, it'll make my job a lot easier. There we go. Don't worry, we'll be

back in Balamb Garden before lunchtime.." He started walking the paved road back to

garden, staring straight ahead.

"Hey, Squall?" I said timidly after a minute of silence.

"Yeah?" he replied, glancing down at me.

"Thanks for saving me today," I said, smiling. Then I added. "Twice."

He let out a small chuckle. "We'll keep the first incident between you and me."

"Thanks," I repeated, feeling myself getting drowsy. "Thanks...for being

there...I'm so...tired..."

"Sierra- Hey, Sierra don't go to sleep on me-!" Squall's voice echoed in my fading

consciousness. "Sierra, talk to me! About anything! Sierra...!"


	2. Chapter 2: Sneaky Business

When I woke up I found myself in one of the beds in garden's sick bay. The

window was open and the white, transparent curtains billowed in a slight breeze that

smelled like sea air. I took a deep breath and smiled. I loved the smell of the sea. Every

time I inhaled that infectious aroma I felt warm and fuzzy inside. It felt like home,

wherever that might have been, once.

"So you're awake," a large woman wearing a white coat said as she came around

the corner of my curtain. I could only assume that she was Dr. Kadowaki mentioned at

one point in Selphie's tour. "Are you feeling alright now? You've been asleep for almost

a full twenty-four hours."

"A whole DAY?!" I exclaimed disbelievingly. How in the world could I have

slept that long? I only had a few scratches on my legs. How much rest could I have

possibly needed?

"Well, you did suffer a decent amount of blood loss," Dr. Kadowaki replied,

flipping through some pages on a clipboard she was holding. "Why, if we hadn't been

able to find a suitable blood donor right away, we just might have lost you."

I looked up. "Who was it that gave me blood?"

"That's classified information unless otherwise specified, and it was not specified

on the donor's sheet," she said, putting down the clipboard at the end of the bed and

coming over to take my blood pressure.

"Oh," I said sadly. But then I remembered the Fire Cave, Ifrit, and...

"When can I get out of here and start training, Dr. Kadowaki?" I needed to prove

that I could capture a GF, and on top of that...

"Your friends were in here asking that a couple of hours ago, actually," she said

calmly as she pumped the thing strapped to my left upper arm.

"My...friends?" I asked, astonished.

"Yes," she replied, a tad bewildered. "Selphie, Instructor Trepe, Irvine, Zell,

Rinoa, Squall...don't tell me you don't know them. Each one of them seemed to be

concerned about you."

I smiled. 'So,' I thought to myself, 'I have friends.'

"And I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them," Dr. Kadowaki continued.

"It depends on how determined you are to get back to your studies. If you don't have

much initiative to go back to work, then I'm afraid that-"

"Dr. Kadowaki, I MUST get out of this bed as soon as possible so I can train to

fight Ifrit!" I cried, cutting her off. "There's nothing more I want in the whole world than

to be a SeeD!"

The Doctor chuckled a little. "Alright then, if that's the case, we'll see how you're

feeling tomorrow. As for now, go to your dorm, get some more rest, and if you still feel

uncomfortable tomorrow, come see me, but I don't think you'll be in too much agony."

And with that, she went back to her desk on the other side of my curtain.

Feeling a sense of glee, I threw the sheet aside and took in the damage. My legs

were bandaged in certain places, and some of the lesser cuts remained open to the air, but

all-in-all, it didn't seem too bad. I looked around for my red bellbottoms, and

remembered that they had been cut along with my legs and had probably been thrown

out.

"Um, Dr. Kadowaki?" I called.

"Yes Sierra, what is it?" she called back.

"I need some pants," I stated bluntly.

"Oh, right. Here." She tossed a pair of my black ones over the top of the curtain.

"Selphie brought them in for you. And she also told me to pass on to you that you're

situated in dorm number 57-B. Your possessions are already there."

"Thank you," I replied as I pulled them on and did up the zipper. 'They fit better

over my bandages than my red ones would have, anyway,' I thought, trying to make the

best of a bad situation.

I bid Dr. Kadowaki farewell and left the office. But in the back of my mind, the

curiosity of who my blood donor could be was eating away at my brain. I really wanted

to seek him or her out and thank them, but how could I do that if it was completely

confidential?

I walked, or rather, limped in the direction of the dorms. Jeez, how my legs

ached! I wondered if I would have trouble finding section B, but when I got there, to my

relief section A was on the left side of the hallway and section B was on the right. I

followed the numbers until I found 57-B. I took a deep breath, turned the knob, and

entered.

I expected to see a roommate sitting in the small living room on the even smaller

couch studying or listening to music, but the whole place was empty. I checked both

bedrooms. One was completely vacant, while the other contained my suitcases and some

fresh sheets for the bed.

"I'd better start unpacking," I said aloud. But as soon as I had gotten through to

the second one, there was a knock at the door.

"Coming," I called. I went to the door and undid the lock. When I opened it, who

was standing there but Rinoa.

"Oh, hi Rinoa," I greeted her.

"Hey Sierra," she replied, sounding a little uneasy. "I'm glad you're feeling

better. I had gone to Dr. Kadodawa's office to see if you were all right and to see if

Squall was around. I haven't seen him all day. He's not with you, is he?"

I must admit, I was a little miffed that she was worried about Squall more than

she was myself, but at the same time, they WERE a couple. If I had a boyfriend that I

hadn't seen all day, sure, I'd be worried too. "No, I was just unpacking my things by

myself when you came to the door. Can you believe it, I don't even have a roommate to

keep me company!" I joked. Rinoa laughed. 'Good way to break the ice,' I thought.

"Well, I'd best be getting back to my dorm," she said as she turned to leave.

"Wait," I said. "Maybe you'd like to come in and help me get settled? It's a big

job for just one person and, well, we could get to know each other a little better..."

For a moment I feared she'd decline, but she replied, "Okay. You probably have a

lot more to say now that you're not asleep." She smiled.

I let her in and in no time we were talking about everything. She helped me place

my personal stuff around so that it looked neat and tidy; pictures on my bedside table, an

oriental cotton tapestry on the wall that the side of my bed was pushed against; little

knick-knacks on top of my dresser, along with some various eye make-ups and my

favorite bottle of perfume.

While I was trying to place everything the way I liked it on my dresser, there was

a moment of silence, after which Rinoa spoke up. "Sierra, I'm sorry for the way Squall

treated you at lunch yesterday," she said sadly. "He's never like that, really, if you'd just

give him a chance I'm sure you'd grow to like-"

"You don't need to apologize, Rinoa," I interrupted. "Actually, Squall already did

on the mission. In fact, besides you and Selphie, I know more about him so far than

anyone else, and vice versa."

"Oh," she said, a little surprised, still with that sad tone of voice. "Is...is that

right..."

I blinked, and then it clicked. "Rinoa, we're only friends!" I exclaimed. "I'd never

dream of stealing anyone's boyfriend away from them, let alone one of my friend's

boyfriends!" I stopped. "You...do consider me a friend, don't you?"

She laughed a little nervously. "Well...I don't know, maybe I was just paranoid,"

she replied, sitting cross-legged on my bed now. "It's just...when I saw him with you in

his arms, I don't know, I just got really jealous. And he was so worried about you in the

infirmary, I had thought that maybe, you know, he had taken an...an interest in you or

something."

'Squall was WORRIED about me?' I thought. "No, it's nothing like that Rinoa, I

swear on my life. He just apologized and we started talking, just for conversation sake."

"Well...okay, I believe you," she said, smiling. Then she sighed. "I just wish I

knew where he went today, that's all."

"I wouldn't be able to tell you," I replied as I folded one of my last few shirts to

put away and tucked it into one of my dresser drawers. "You're the first person I've

actually talked to all day, besides Dr. Kadowaki, that is."

"When will you be able to go back to your studies, by the way?" she asked.

"Pretty much the same thing she told you guys," I said. "It depends on how much

I want to go back to work. But I want to go badly, so I think I'll make a quick recovery in

that case." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"What do you plan to do in the meantime?" she asked.

Then something hit me like a sack of potatoes in the back of the head. "Rinoa,

you're Squall's girlfriend, so you have to know where he keeps the skeleton key for the

garden, right? He IS the highest ranking SeeD in Balamb Garden after all, and he DID

command it when the sorceress hunt broke out..." I asked. A plan was starting to hatch.

She looked at me suspiciously. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well," I started, "I want to find out who it was that gave me my blood donation.

To do that, I have to look at Dr. Kadowaki's records."

She began to smile as she realized what I was thinking. "So you want to sneak in

and find out for yourself? Sierra, I never would've pegged you as such an adventurer."

"So you'll help me, then?" I asked hopefully.

"Why not? I could do with a little excitement. Things have been a bit boring

around here lately, after all." She stood up as I folded another shirt. "Stay here, I'll be

right back with the key."

I finished packing away and sat on my bed, admiring the fruits of my labor. I

happened to remember the ribbon in my pocket and placed it strategically on my dresser.

Things didn't seem nearly as cluttered as they had at the orphanage, maybe because there

were more people living in the one space. Somehow, I missed the dull roar of the room

full of girls before lights out, the giggling in the dark as some of us conversed and told

ghost stories under a blanket, the midnight pillow fights that would break out just because

we couldn't sleep. All of a sudden, my small dorm felt empty and hollow, and I felt very

lonely. It was going to be hard adjusting to my dorm. Perhaps I'd get a roommate

eventually...

It was then that Rinoa crept in through my door, swinging the skeleton key ring

'round and 'round her index finger. "I got it!" she whispered when I came out of my

room to meet her. I grabbed my room key off the hook by the door, closed it behind me

as we quietly went into the hallway, and locked it.

"Okay," I whispered, "let's go!"

We walked quietly the whole length of the dorms so as not to be heard, and once

we were on the way to the doctor's office, we started walking. "So, who do you think it

is?" Rinoa asked me, her voice quivering slightly with anticipation.

"I don't know," I said. "All I want is to get their name so I can find them and

thank them for pretty much saving my life."

"Maybe it's a guy!" she nearly shrieked. "It'll be so romantic! He saves your life

and then you both get together and graduate together, and fight-by-side as SeeDs for the

rest of your days 'til your old and gray and-"

"Rinoa, jeez keep it down will you??" I hissed. "We can't be caught! It's bad

enough that I'm breaking the rules on my first...no, scratch that, second day!!"

"Sorry," she apologized. "But look at it this way, it could be. Hey, why don't I set

you up on a date with Zell tomorrow?"

"I...don't think so," I replied uneasily as we stopped in front of Dr. Kadowaki's

office door. "Here, give me the key, will you?"

Rinoa handed me the skeleton key and I unlocked the door as quietly as I could. I

turned the handle and went inside. It was really dark and almost impossible to see around

the room, save for the stream of moonlight pouring in through the windows.

I started by searching Dr. Kadowaki's desk as Rinoa stood guard outside the door.

There were so many folders on the desk it was hard to tell one from another. Hardly any

of them were labeled, and the ones that were could have been hen scratches for all I

knew. I searched the drawers, and found one that looked like what might have read

"Bloool Runners". I fanned through it. It was the confidentiality donor papers all right,

but there wasn't one there for me.

I sighed heavily, and took a look around the room again. Then I remembered that

clipboard that Dr. Kadowaki had been looking at earlier and I frantically started looking

under the scattered papers on the desk. I found the board and grinned triumphantly.

I flipped the papers, looking through them: a basic report on my injury, the date,

blah, blah, blah...and my blood donation. I scanned the sheet, looking for a name. It was

so hard to see, let alone read...

"Sierra! Hurry, I think someone's coming!" I heard Rinoa hiss at me through the

crack in the door. I looked closer at the sheet. At the bottom of the sheet was a place to

sign your name. I squinted as I read it, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

SIEFER ALMASY

"WHAT?!" I nearly yelped, but stopped myself. I stuffed the papers into a messy

little pile, with the clipboard on the top of it all, and rushed out the door, locking before

doing so. Rinoa took off after me, and we raced back to my dorm.

"S...so??" she asked, panting. "Who was it? Do you know them??"

"No...," I replied. "It wasn't even a...a student or a teacher here. It was an

outsider. Just...some resident of the town we were nearest to. That's all." I raised my

eyes sadly. "Rinoa, can you leave me be now? Thanks a lot for helping me, but I'm kinda

tired."

"O...K...I'll see you tomorrow then?" Rinoa said, edging towards the door.

"Yeah, and tell everyone else I'm feeling better and I'll see them tomorrow too."

"Alright then, Sierra. Goodnight," she said, closing the door gently.

Without another word or even a thought to myself, I put on a nightgown and went

to bed. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

That night, I had a really strange dream. I dreamt that I was in the fire cave again,

except this time I wasn't fighting Ifrit; I was fighting a sorceress. I recognized her as

sorceress Edea, the same sorceress who was in league with President Deling of Galbadia

in the beginning. It happened a couple of years ago, another sorceress from the future

called Ultimecia had possessed her, but Balamb SeeDs had defeated her and Edea passed

her powers unto somebody else. I never did know all the details involving the sorceress

hunt. Normal people like myself usually never got the whole story involving SeeD

missions. It just wasn't done.

Edea was laughing maniacally at my vain attempts to strike her, and yet again, I

missed every single time. She didn't make any moves to hit me back, just dodged my

moves and stood there, laughing at me. Eventually, the cave turned into some kind of

ballroom of sorts, and someone was beside Edea, down on one knee. I recognized that

short blond hair and long gray coat – it was Seifer. I stopped running at the sorceress, and

just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Seifer, what do you think you're doing?!" I cried. I knew Seifer was bad news,

but to be tied to a sorceress...?

"I'm a sorceress' knight, of course," Seifer replied, grinning evilly. "Where's

YOUR knight, Sorceress Sierra?"

"Wha-?!" I cried, confused.

"Your knight, Sierra! Don't tell me that you don't have a knight by your side!"

Edea cackled at me. "Why isn't Squall with you??"

"Yeah, where's Squall to protect you now??" Seifer mocked. "Squall's a

sorceress' knight, so how come he's not protecting his sorceress??"

"Stop it!!" I yelled. "Stop it!! I'm NOT a sorceress!! I'm not!! I don't have a

knight!! I don't have powers!! Leave me alone-!!"

I woke up in a cold sweat. I had to go someplace to calm down. A nightmare like

that wasn't something that occurred with me often. Hell, where had I even got the notion

of sorceresses before I went to sleep? I hadn't thought about Sorceress Edea for ages, let

alone did I know anything about her having a knight.

I threw on a pair of blue fleece sweatpants and a black tank top, and dug my feet

into my dark blue slippers. On a whim I grabbed my housecoat and flung it on too. I

picked the room key up off the table outside my bedroom, and left my dorm. From there,

I just walked.

Eventually, I found myself at the Quad, looking over the railing into the water.

Selphie was right, the running water did help me relax a little bit. "What could all that

have possibly meant?" I asked myself out loud as I stared into the water below. I sighed.

"Well, I know where that bit about Seifer came from. He's the one who gave me that

blood donation. I wonder did he do it because he wanted to, or because the Headmaster or

Dr. Kadowaki ordered him to? Should I even bother trying to thank him?"

"I don't know if most people would classify talking to yourself as a sign that

you're feeling better," Squall intruded on my thoughts all of a sudden. He was walking

towards me, wearing his usual getup complete with his jacket with the fur on the collar. I

could feel the blood rush to my cheeks.

"Uh, hi Squall. What are you doing out so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, smiling. He joined me at the railing

and looked into the water. "Trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah, a little," I said, my gaze returning to the water as well. I looked at his

reflection as I spoke. "I had a nightmare. I have no idea what it means, but it wasn't just

an ordinary dream."

"You'll figure it out eventually," Squall told my reflection. "Cid's had me up all

night on watch duty. Apparently somebody broke into the doctor's office. Nothing was

stolen, but some papers were swapped around. A bit of a mess is all. Nothing to panic

about in my opinion." He sighed. "Just got away from his office, which means I'm off

duty now, thank heaven."

"Uh, yeah, sounds harmless to me," I replied, trying to keep a straight face. There

was an awkward moment of silence before I turned to him and blurted, "Squall, what do

you know about sorceress' knights?"

"How do you know about-?" he asked, surprised.

"Just...answer my question first." I cut him off, anxious to hear what he had to

say.

"Well...the idea of the sorceress' knight was only brought up around the most

recent sorceress hunt, as far as I know," Squall explained, turning toward me. "You know

about the whole basic situation with sorceresses Edea and Ultimecia, right?"

I nodded. "Edea was possessed by Ultimecia, who ended up possessing someone

else and set sorceress Adel free. Those were fearful times, huh?"

"Very much so," Squall said, nodding grimly. "Edea, or rather Ultimecia, had a

knight. I don't know if sorceress Adel ever had a knight. I don't think so."

I swallowed hard. "Squall...who was Ultimecia's knight?" I asked, though I had a

feeling that I already knew the answer.

There was a pause before Squall replied, "Seifer. Seifer Almasy."

I turned my gaze back to the water. I was afraid to ask my next question. "Was

there ever another knight besides Seifer?"

"Only one other," he said, also looking into the water again but avoiding my gaze,

"and that one is still around, the knight of the present sorceress."

"Who are the present sorceress and her knight?" I asked, bracing myself for the

answer.

"I think I can go to bed now," Squall said, avoiding the question. "I'm glad you're

feeling better, Sierra." He turned to leave.

"No, please Squall! Wait!" I cried, grabbing his sleeve. His eyes met mine. "We

don't have to talk about that anymore if you don't want to. I know it's really none of my

business, being a common student and all. Just please, stay and talk with me for a little

while longer. I don't want to go back to my room and have to be alone." I smiled, holding

his gaze. "Please?"

"You don't have a roommate?" he asked, as he led me over to a bench sitting

under the only tree in the Quad.

I shook my head as we sat down. "No. I probably would've stayed there if I had

one, but since I don't, I wanted to go somewhere to think and try to relax. I don't like

being alone. It...it's very different from the orphanage in Dollet. I was never alone there.

Girls were always coming and going from the one big room that served as our dorm.

There was always someone to talk to if you needed it."

"I grew up in an orphanage too," Squall said, staring off into space. He spread his

arms out on either side of him on the back of the bench. I blushed, and nervously shuffled

away from him a little. He didn't seem to notice as he continued. "All my friends and I

grew up there, actually. The one who took care of us was our Matron, Cid's wife, Edea."

"You grew up under a sorceress?" I asked, a little awed.

"Yep," Squall said, looking down at me. "In fact, it was...well, Edea's idea to

start garden and produce SeeDs, to fight against her if ever need be."

"Sounds like she knew how to think ahead," I said.

"Heh...yeah," he replied. "But Edea's powers are gone now. She's been rid of

them for quite some time."

"I wonder where our sorceress is now?" I said, staring off into space.

"She's here," Squall replied casually. Then he realized what he had said.

"Uhm...I mean..."

"She's HERE?!" I exclaimed. "Then you must know who she is! C'mon Squall,

tell me! Please??" This was news. I couldn't believe that Squall was raised by a

sorceress, let alone knew the identity of the current one.

"Well..." he thought, then sighed. He gave in. "You're bound to find out sooner

or later I guess. Rinoa is the present sorceress."

"R-Rinoa?!" I cried. "Then...then you must be..." I trailed off.

Squall nodded, a smile beginning to tug at the corner of his mouth. "You guessed

it. I am Squall, the highest-ranking SeeD in Balamb Garden, and knight to sorceress

Rinoa."

"But don't you ever worry that you'll have to...you know, as a SeeD, have to

fight against her?" I asked, completely in shock. "What if some other sorceress from the

future decides to wreak havoc in the past? Or even vice versa? Rinoa's the only person

she could possess, right?"

"We've been trying to find a way to rid Rinoa and every person who could

possibly become a sorceress of that huge responsibility," Squall murmured as he stared at

the floor. "So far there's been no such luck. Dr. Odine, specialist in researching

sorceresses and their powers, went missing after the sorceress hunt. For a long time,

Rinoa had nowhere to turn to try and get rid of her powers." He smiled. "But recently

we've received word of another scientist in Esthar who picked up on Dr. Odine's work.

She said it's still experimental at this time, but in theory, she can take Rinoa's powers

from her without having to harm a single hair on her head."

I smiled too. "I heard Esthar is famous for it's highly advanced technology," I

replied. "Is it true that you really don't have to walk to most major places?"

"Well, when I was there before the sorceress hunt they had these kind of chair

things you sat on and they hovered through these big tubes to certain destinations,"

Squall said thoughtfully. "I don't know if everything's been repaired yet, even though it

has been a while since Ultemecia and The Lunar Cry. But since it's a very important

mode of transportation I'd imagine they're up and running like before."

"I'd like to go there sometime," I thought aloud. "Right now is my first time out

of Dollet. I'm pretty much just a small town girl with really big dreams. More than

anything I wanted to travel, and now here I am, trying to become a SeeD. It's all just

happened so fast lately."

Squall turned his gaze toward me once more. "Well, when we go to Esthar, I'll

ask Cid for special permission to take you with us. Think of it as a kind of field trip."

I was ecstatic. "Y-you mean it??" I cried.

"Of course," Squall replied. "On one condition."

"What's that?" I asked a little suspiciously.

"You have to defeat Ifrit before we leave," he said seriously. "We're going almost

two weeks from today, so that should give you more than enough time to train."

I grinned. "I'm starting training as soon as my legs are better Squall, so don't

worry, I'll be ready."

"Glad to hear it," he replied, smiling as he stood. "Well, I'm going to head back to

my room to get some sleep. Goodnight, Sierra."

"Goodnight Squall," I replied as he started to walk off. "And, thanks for offering

to take me with you. You have no idea what this means to me."

"Don't mention it," Squall called, waving his hand so I could see it. "Bye."

I sat on the bench in The Quad for a long time afterwards. Walking back to my dorm, I

tried to get my thoughts organized. So, Squall was the present sorceress knight. I wasn't a

sorceress, so Squall wasn't my knight. But I couldn't help but be shaken by the

information that Squall was Rinoa's knight. Something didn't feel right at all. That dream

had more meaning than having just found out that Seifer Almasy, of all people, had given

me a blood donation. I got back to my bedroom, slid under the covers, and fell asleep in

an instant.


	3. Chapter 3: Revelations

The next day, no one came to see me first thing in the morning. 'All the better,' I thought. 'This way I won't be distracted from training.' My legs felt so much better after rest, so bright and early, I strapped on my gauntlets and marched myself down to the training centre.

I dove headfirst into battles, staying near the entrance of the training ground so I could get away fast if need be. There weren't any incredibly strong monsters to deal with at first, just some Grats and maybe a bite bug here or there. I had decided that when I could finally beat the dreaded T-Rexaur, I would be ready to venture into the fire cave again and settle the score with Ifrit. Not to mention, get back Squall's gunblade. I hadn't mentioned it the night before, but I was going back into the cave today to get it before anyone else could. I at least owed him that much for saving my life. Twice.

I took a break after fighting a whole bunch of Grats, and sat on a rock. I wiped my forehead with my wrist, since the backside of my arm was covered with my weapon. I was tired, and my legs did ache again, but I vowed that I wouldn't give up. "How does everyone do it?!" I exclaimed.

No sooner had the words left my mouth when who should stride into the training ground but Irvine, gun over his shoulder. "Hey Sierra," he greeted me. "You're sure up early this morning. How are you feeling?"

"Much better," I replied. "I'm starting to train. I know most would probably say that it's a little too early for that, but I want to be a SeeD this year, not the next."

"Inspiring words," he said, smiling. Then in a quick motion he flung his gun off his shoulder and aimed it at me. I froze, and he fired.

A bite bug fell dead into the bushes behind me.

I still couldn't move. "Gotta watch your back, even in here," he said. "Enemies won't let you rest outside the battlefield, so that's the way to train. Anyway, I've got some sharp shooting practice waiting for me. See ya around, Sierra." He winked and walked off farther into the training ground.

"B...bye," I stammered. 'That was scary,' I thought. 'I thought for sure he was going to shoot me.' With that thought in mind, I got back to work.

Another couple of hours passed, and I felt I had the experience to take on something a little more challenging. But before I could even think of going to look for something bigger than myself, I heard the scream of a little kid. I raced to the source of the sound, and sure enough, a younger student was cornered by, low and behold, a T-Rexaur.

"Now's my chance," I told myself. With its back to me, I could easily get the upper hand. I leapt into combat, slashing at its tail with the sharp end of my gauntlet. It roared and turned around. I attacked it with what I had learned from sheer experience earlier, keeping in mind the basic moves that Squall had told me. Stun, strike, block. I mixed these around occasionally, a strike here, a block there, a strike then a stun and another strike. I never did like repetition.

"Oh, I'm sick of this!" I cried. T-Rexaur leaned down to try and snap at me with those huge jaws, and determined to end the battle now, I jumped up and gave it a spinning wheel kick in the nose, then slashed at its neck. Blood began spurting out. It gave one final roar, then fell dead to the ground with one loud THUD.

I panted as I stood there, surveying the T-Rexaur's dead body as it began to vanish. "I did it," I said, breathing heavily. I grinned. "I did it!! I DID IT!! I did it all by myself!!" I was basically dancing on the spot when I remembered the kid.

I started searching the bushes the T-Rexaur had its nose stuck in. "Hey, kid, you alright? Hello? Kid, can you hear me?" I called. To the left of where I was looking, a head popped out. It was a little boy with red hair.

"Are you ok?" I asked him as I walked over. "You can come out now, the T-Rexaur's gone. What's your name?"

The boy slowly crept out of the bushes. He was wearing a blue student uniform, and he looked to be no more than seven years old. "I'm James," he said timidly. "Who are you? Did you get rid of the T-Rexaur?"

"My name's Sierra," I told him. "Yeah, I taught him a lesson. You're not hurt, are you?"

"No," he replied. "I got a few scratches on my knees, but that's all."

"You should go to Dr. Kadowaki's and get that tended to," I said. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, dusting off his ripped uniform pants, then he looked up at me. "But could you bring me there? I don't want to go alone."

"Ok," I said. "I'm about done in here now anyway. C'mon, let's go."

James took my hand and we walked out of the Training Ground. "What were you doing in there all by yourself anyway, James?" I asked. I remembered what Selphie had said on her "guided tour" about the first years and T-Rexaurs.

James looked at the floor. "Well..."

"Come on James, you can tell me" I prompted.

"Well...some of my friends dared me to go in there and fight a T-Rexaur," he blurted. It sounded like he really needed to get this out. "They called me a chicken-wuss and told me that I couldn't even defeat a sleeping Chicabo. But I said I'd show them. I guess I am a chicken-wuss, huh?"

I stopped in front of him, dropped to one knee and held him by the shoulders. "Now you listen to me," I said firmly. "For one thing, no one needs friends like that. Friends don't put friends down. Secondly, you don't need to beat a T-Rexaur to be brave."

"I...I don't?" James asked.

"No, of course not!" I exclaimed. "Bravery comes in a lot of forms. It's very dangerous for first years to be in the training grounds alone. In fact, I think the bravest thing you could do in this kind of situation, is to stand up to your so-called 'friends' and tell them to...uhm...how can I explain this without using something derogatory..."

"Kiss off?" James supplied.

"Yes," I said as I stood and we continued. "That's perfect. Tell them to kiss off, because no one, and trust me on this James, no one the size of even a third year could defeat a T-Rexaur. In fact, it's difficult for many of the final years to take on. That was the first one I've defeated ever, and I'm supposed to be a SeeD in another six months."

"Wow," James said, amazed, as we stopped in front of the doctor's office. "That must be real dangerous then. All right. I'm never going to try and take on a T-Rexaur again anytime soon. Thanks for saving me, Sierra. I hope I'll see you around sometime."

"Most likely," I replied, smiling. "See you later, James."

"Bye," he chirped, then turned the knob and disappeared into Dr. Kadowaki's office.

I turned around and began walking toward the dorms. When I got there I made a quick change of clothes and was just on my way out again when I heard a little chime, and a voice say over the intercom, "Sierra Marcus, please report to Headmaster Cid's office immediately. I repeat, Sierra Marcus, please report to Headmaster Cid's office immediately."

"Oh, for the love of..." I sighed as I walked the hallways. I took the elevator to Cid's office. I didn't have time for this, I had to get down to business before I was too far behind to even have a prayer of catching up.

"Hello Sierra," Cid greeted me. "Feeling better, I see?"

"Yes sir," I replied politely. "Why did you call me here?"

"Yes, that," he said a little more dejectedly. "Well, after the incident the other day with Ifrit, many of our professors have been having their doubts about you."

"Sir, I have had no previous experience with a weapon, you know that!" I cried, defending myself. "With all due respect, you are the one who suggested that I go out and get a GF on my first day!"

"That brings me to my point," Cid said sternly. "You are to go back to the fire cave within the week. If you are unable to defeat and take Ifrit as your GF, I am afraid we are going to have to send you back home to Dollet and move the rest of the academy to its next location."

Well that was a shocker. He had just told me to do what I was going out to do minutes before I got called into his office. I sighed. "Then please give me permission to do it today," I said, exasperated. "Alone."

"Isn't it a little too soon to..."he began.

"Please!" I begged through Cid's protesting which I ignored. "I've been training all day..."

"...you've barely been here three days..."

"...I fought bite bugs and Grats..."

"...I even sent you out with a SeeD..."

"...and I saved a child this morning..."

"...and he lost his weapon as a result..."

"...he was being attacked..."

"...what is Squall supposed to fight with, now that..."

"...by a T-Rexaur and I defeated it, so surely that gives me SOME credit!"

"...he has no gunblade, and- YOU WHAT??!" Cid cried at my last comment.

"I said I saved a child this morning by defeating the T-Rexaur that was attacking him," I said a little more calmly.

"Alone??" he said. He seemed astonished with the fact that I'd completed this feat.

"Yes, sir, alone," I said, smiling inwardly. I might actually get this chance after all. "Please, does this restore your faith in my ability to become a SeeD so quickly?"

"Sierra, this is a hard statement to make, but if you don't accomplish your mission today, I'm afraid I'm going to have to remove you from our school and move on. You get one final try," Cid explained firmly. "You have until the end of the school day. And may I say on a personal note, good luck, because I would not like to lose such a prodigy of a student."

"I won't let you down, sir," I replied, giving a kind of salute.

"Then you are dismissed, Miss Marcus," he said. I couldn't help but think he was still doubtful of what I could do.

All the same, I nearly bounced out of the office and down the hallway. By this time, everyone else would be in class, so no one was likely to run into me before I departed on my mission.

Or so I thought. Who should I bump into while skidding around the corner but, of all people, Seifer.

"Oof!!" I fell to the floor again. I seemed to do that a lot since I arrived, land on my ass, that is. I slowly gazed up at him, a sorrowful look on my face. "H-hi, Seifer. Sorry." I managed to choke.

"Oh. Hi there...um...Sierra," he said, standing there with a hand behind his head. I was stunned. It wasn't like him to seem so unsure of whether or not he should yell at someone for running into him, especially if it was a repeat offense on my part. "Are you...feeling better?" This was an even bigger shocker. Seifer Almasy, the one guy I was told to always keep eyes in the back of my head for, was asking me about my well being!

"I...yeah, I'm feeling a whole lot better after a bit of rest," I said smiling. "Thanks for asking."

"Well...I dunno, I guess I'm glad to see you up and around," he said. He looked really nervous for some reason. "Hey, where were you headed in such a hurry?"

"Oh," I said, my face falling, "I was on my way to try and defeat Ifrit again. I've been training really hard since before dawn, and if I don't get it done this week, they kick me out." I looked up at him sheepishly. "Embarrassing, huh?"

"Well, not really," he told me as he leaned casually against the wall. "Heck, I've been in and out of here more times that I can count on two hands and two feet put together. Actually, after the sorceress hunt, I quit for a little while. I've been here for so long trying to become a SeeD, I lost sight of why I wanted to in the first place. Then suddenly, it came back to me. The reason why I wanted to become a SeeD was to protect our matron, Edea."

"You grew up in the same orphanage as Squall and the others?" I asked disbelievingly.

Seifer scowled at Squall's name. "Yeah, I did," he said sourly. "Always in competition with that guy for everything. But I knew the whole time when we were little that she was a sorceress. No one else had a clue I don't think, until they had to face her in battle, that is." He sighed heavily. "Man, I just can't get a break."

"Well, um, I was on my way out...if you're not busy, maybe you'd like to walk me to the fire cave and we could talk a little bit?" I suggested. What was I doing?! Was I asking Seifer out on some kind of weird, twisted date?

He looked a bit surprised. "Well, all right, but only cuz you wanted the company," he said, smirking. "You don't wanna risk being seen with the likes of me, huh."

I shook my head. "You got it all wrong. We just need to...uh...get to know each other a little, that's all. Come on," I said, and I took his hand and started pulling him toward the entrance. I wasn't sure, but I thought that I saw him blush before I started to drag him out.

On the way, we started talking about everything, and I realized that Seifer wasn't really a bad guy after all. He was just vastly misunderstood and very private about his life. I had the strong opinion that I was one of the few to actually hear most of what he was saying to me.

When we arrived at the entrance to the fire cave, he said casually, "Well, I guess this is where we part ways." He began to walk back to Balamb.

"Wait," I blurted. "Seifer, I have to know something first."

"What?" he said, looking a bit worried as he turned towards me again.

"Well I..." I began, "...I wanted to...to thank you for...you know, saving my life. Without your blood donation, I would've been a goner. And I also wanted to know...well...did you do it because you wanted to, or because you were ordered to?" I winced. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be so blunt after just making amends with him.

He smiled at me. "Sierra, you should know by now that I never do what I'm told anyway." With that, he gave me a little wave and a wink and walked off back in the direction of the garden.

I couldn't help but smile. I was also embarrassed to find that I was blushing very hotly. Seifer was, in retrospect, a very nice guy. I found it such a crime that no one got to know the guy on the inside, just because he was a little rough around the edges.

When he was out of sight, I turned around and stood in the entrance of the cave. I took a deep breath, and entered. I was going to do this. I wasn't going to screw up again. I couldn't, because this time, there was no one here to save my ass from falling off the edge.

I walked onward, careful to avoid creatures on the way. I needed all my strength for this one fight. I just couldn't bear to be kicked out of garden after I had made so many friends. It was either bring back Ifrit or don't come back at all. And with Seifer in my mind's eye, I was determined to come back.

But when I reached Ifrit, he had the gunblade mounted on a stalagmite in the center of a pool of lava with the tip cracked off, as if a kind of trophy from his last victory. I growled inwardly. Seifer was pushed to the back of my mind for the moment as I focused on the Lionheart, sitting there in all its splendor. I had to get it back, I just had to. I owed it to Squall. I owed it to Cid. I owed it to, well, all of Balamb Garden.

The battle was grueling, but I kept my training and three basic moves in mind, throwing in a few kicks and punches along the way. It wasn't until I was finally starting to feel the ache in my muscles and the dryness of the hot air in my throat that I started to lose sight of my prize sitting on its pedestal. My vision was starting to fuzz, my mind became hazy. I was getting so tired...

"No!" I cried. "I can't lose! It's all or nothing this time, and the stakes are too high to give up so easily!!"

Ifrit roared at my sudden outburst and I charged head-on. At the last moment, I slid under it, then climbed its back in a lightning-fast instant. I slashed at the back of its neck, and it howled in pain. Blood gushed out of the wound, and I leapt to the stone floor, watching Ifrit struggle to try and stand again.

"You are brave, mortal," it told me as it held a paw over its bleeding neck. "I didn't expect you to be back so soon."

'Wow,' I thought, 'it talks.'

"Do you wish me to lend you my strength, girl?" he bellowed.

"Oh...yes, of course!" I cried. "Also, another request, if I may?" I asked hopefully.

"What is it that you desire?" Ifrit almost growled.

I was still really scared. Ifrit could still attack at any moment, if he so wished. "That gunblade on the stalagmite," I said bravely, "I wish to take it with me."

"Very well," Ifrit replied. He staggered over to it and pulled the gunblade down, then staggered over to me and laid it at my feet. "May I rest now?" he asked.

"Yes, I imagine you're hurting pretty bad right now," I replied. "Um...sure, you can rest."

"Many thanks, brave girl," Ifrit said, and disappeared in a flash of red light. When I looked down, there was a small red jewel lying there along with the gunblade. (Author's Note: I have no idea what GF's look like once they've been defeated, so live with them being little different colored jewels. :p)

"Oh well, this must be what everyone means by my 'acquiring' Ifrit," I said aloud. I picked up the jewel and shoved it into my pocket, and grasped the handle to pick up the gunblade.

"This thing weighs a ton!!" I exclaimed. I decided it would be best for me to drag it out of the cave as opposed to carrying it over my shoulder like I had first planned.

When I had gotten out of the cave, I sat by the entrance for a rest. I wiped my brow, and smiled a very satisfied smile. "I did it, I finally did it," I sighed happily. It was a moment before I realized that this was the same spot where Squall had laid me after the first fight. I couldn't help but blush.

"Wait a minute, I'm thinking about a guy who has a girlfriend!!" I cried. "To boot, she's my friend! I can't do that! Sure, Squall is handsome and noble and would sooner rescue a damsel in distress than sit down and watch a hockey game, but he's taken, end of story!" I clonked myself in the head with my fist. "Stupid!!"

"Talking to yourself again?" came a voice from my right.

"Huh?" I looked up, and who should be standing there but Squall, an older gunblade model balanced on his shoulder. Of all the rotten luck...

"No, I'm talking to the little red jewel in my pocket," I replied, hoping he hadn't heard my whole rant.

"Then you did it!" Squall exclaimed, smiling. "Congratulations!"

"That's not all," I replied, smiling back. "Here you go Squall, to save you the trouble." I shoved the gunblade towards him with the effort of both arms and my right foot.

"You...got back my gunblade," he said softly. "Thanks."

"I felt I owed you one," I said. "You've just been so nice to me, not to mention that you saved me twice..."

"Once," Squall interrupted. "Remember, the first never happened."

I giggled. "Once. Right."

"But anyway, you don't owe me anything Sierra," he said. "I appreciate that you got it back, but you didn't have to."

"How come you didn't go after it sooner, like as soon as I was put in the ward, or even during the whole day while I slept?" I asked.

"Well...I'm not going to lie, I was worried about you," he confessed.

"You...were?" I asked, astonished.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Squall said as he plopped down next to me. "After all, you nearly died in my arms. I was...scared. I was scared that you would've died and I never would have gotten to know you any better." His gaze turned towards the ground.

I was awestruck. No one, especially a member of the male species, had ever shown that they had cared for me so much. "But...why?" I asked as I gazed at him. "I mean, you can't possibly be interested in me. I'm just a little girl from Dollet with some big dreams, that's all."

"But even so, I never even would have gotten to know that much if you hadn't lived," he said, staring off at the blue sky which had very few clouds. "By the way, I know it was you that snuck into Dr. Kadowaki's office. No, I didn't tell anyone. I know that you're no threat, and that the reason why was because you wanted to know who gave you that blood."

"Did Rinoa tell you?" I asked sheepishly.

"She did," he replied. "But only because she knew that I'd understand. She'd never betray anybody's trust if she knew it would be doing harm."

"That's a relief," I said.

"I'm the one who asked Seifer to come forward and give you the blood," he replied casually.

"You WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "But...he said he came forward on his own will-"

"He did," Squall said, "but I don't think he would have if I hadn't come to him first. I guess he didn't want to feel like he owed me a favor for seeing me get on both knees and beg." He flashed a smile, but I could tell it was only half-hearted.

"Squall, you didn't..." I started.

"Well, what else was I supposed to do??" his voice raising slightly, looking at me suddenly. "I couldn't just sit by and watch you die!" He then became very quiet and looked at the ground. "Sorry. I yelled, didn't I?"

"Squall..." I said softly.

"I'm going back now. See you later Sierra," Squall said as he picked up the Lionheart and threw it on his free shoulder. "Thanks again for bringing my gunblade back." He walked off at a steady pace and didn't look behind at me even once.

I sighed heavily. 'Now what do I do?' I thought mournfully. 'Their stories don't really fit together too well. But there's nothing I can do about Squall. I guess I can send him the message to back off if I spend enough time with Seifer. I don't want to use him like that, but...what am I talking about! I like Seifer! He's cute, got a good build and he seems interested in me, too! So that's what I'll do!'

With renewed vigor I stood and practically marched back to garden. The pride of defeating and capturing Ifrit all on my own returned and I held my head high.

But as I approached Balamb Garden's gates, I heard the clash of metal against metal. "Oh no," I said, and I started running towards the sound. The scene I came upon was exactly what I had feared.

Squall and Seifer were having a gunblade duel.

"Stop it!" I cried as I dashed forward to try and come between them. 'No matter how late for that,' I thought sourly.

"Get out of the way, Sierra!" Seifer yelled at me as he held Squall's Lionheart at bay with the older model Squall had been carrying along with it. He didn't seem to be fairing too well, either.

"No!" I exclaimed. "Stop it Seifer! Please, stop!!" But Seifer slashed at Squall's face.

"Come on Squall, I'll give you a new scar! That one's getting old, you need a new look!" Seifer laughed.

"Shove it, Seifer!" Squall yelled back. "I'll have you expelled for good for attacking your superior!!"

"Then let's make it INTERESTING!" Seifer cried. "I can't get kicked out for something as small as that!!" He made another swipe at Squall, this time for his lower torso. I had never seen either of them like this before. Seifer was acting like a madman, his lust for blood driving him crazy, and Squall was trying his best to hold that state of mind back, I was thinking, mostly for my sake.

"STOP IT!!" I screamed, and jumped between the two of them just as their blades were going to clash again. I braced myself, and heard the scrape of metal on metal once more. When I opened my eyes, I was standing between both of them, one gauntlet each stopping a gunblade. I wanted to be proud of myself, but it wasn't the time.

"You two should be ashamed!!" I cried as I flicked my arms to bat away their weapons. "You're fighting like little children! What trivial thing could possibly start a fight like this so suddenly??"

Squall and Seifer's gazes met and they glared at each other. Seifer smirked and went first. "He told me to stay away from you, Sierra. Said that I may have saved your life in some sense of the phrase, but that I was still bad news, as always." He tilted his head a little. "Isn't that right, Squall?"

"I..." Squall began. "Not exactly..."

"How dare you!" I spat at Squall. Where did he find the right to interfere like this?? "Squall, I know you may just be looking out for me, but don't try to control my life! Besides, I think you already have someone who needs to be looked after, especially considering that she's a sorceress. Maybe you should be spending more time with Rinoa instead of worrying about whether or not I'm alright. I CERTAINLY don't need a knight, and if I did, I wouldn't want him to fight over things that are so petty!"

Right away, I felt sorry for saying the last bit. Squall's eyes widened, and I could swear he nearly snorted, before stalking off into the garden with his gunblade.

Seifer grinned and walked over to me. "You sure showed him, huh?" he said, putting an arm around my shoulder. I grabbed it by the wrist and threw it off. I glared at him, and went through the gates.

I thought that when the unlikely day arrived that I had two guys fighting over me I'd be overjoyed. But I wasn't. I was very attracted to both of them, but one had a girlfriend who, above all, was my friend, and also a sorceress, and the other was just plainly a jerk. I had to talk to someone. But who? No one on the continent was cheerful enough to put me in a good mood after that.

"Hi Sierra!!" Selphie cried and tackled me from behind with a hug.

Or was there?

"Hey Selphie," I replied, maintaining my balance and hugging her back. "Breaking for lunch already?"

"Yeah, where have you been all morning? I thought you were supposed to start training when you got better." She eyed me suspiciously. "You weren't slacking off, were you? Because even if I am your friend, I AM a SeeD and it is my soul responsibility to report such behavior to the headmast-"

"Selphie, calm down, you sound like you're reading out of a SeeD manual!" I cried. "No, I wasn't slacking off. In fact, I just kicked Ifrit's ass from here to Shumi Village, ahead of schedule, might I add." I polished my nails against my shirt proudly.

"Booyaka, Sierra!" Selphie yelled at the top of her lungs. "Way to go!! I bet no one expected you to make a comeback that quick!"

"That was the plan," I replied. "I needed to prove myself, that's all. When Cid hears about this he'll have faith in me again."

"You should go see him right away," Selphie said excitedly. "You can start going to class like everyone else, and then BOOM! You'll be a SeeD in no time!"

"That's the least of my problems right now, Selphie," I sighed.

"What do you mean?" Selphie asked, concerned.

"Not now, wait for me in the café while I go report to Cid, alright?" I said quietly. "I'll be back before you can say 'Chicabo'."

"Okie!" Selphie chimed. "I'll try and save a hot dog for you then. Hurry back!"

"I'll try," I said sadly as I began my walk to the elevator. I got in and found myself in Cids's office in no time. My head was spinning with mixed emotions and thoughts, and I had to struggle to keep my demeanor as I stood in front of the headmaster's desk.

"Excuse me, sir," I said to get his attention.

He glanced up quickly. "Oh, hello Sierra. Did you have more questions about your mission today?" He seemed in better spirits than earlier.

"No, actually, I've completed it," I replied. "I just wanted to report back to you before I broke for lunch."

"You did it already??" he asked, surprised. But he smiled, looking pleased. "Well done! I didn't expect you to have it accomplished until nightfall, let alone before lunch! Well done, indeed! This calls for a celebration!" He pushed a button on a speaker set on his desk. "Xu, bring us in a cart of treats, and gather our top SeeDs into my office. We've got much to discuss." I swallowed hard.

"Yes sir!" the voice of Xu responded through the speaker.

"Sir, I don't think that's necessary-"I started.

"Pish posh," Cid sputtered. "You're a prodigy, Miss Marcus! No one has ever transferred from a normal school to a garden and has been able to adapt so well in such a short period of time, and also under so much pressure! But I apologize for being so anal this morning. It was necessary to motivate you to accomplish your mission. I knew you couldn't pass up the chance to prove yourself." He grinned.

"So...you still have faith in me?" I asked, a small smile starting to spread across my face.

"Of course, Sierra!" he cried. But before he could continue, there was a knock at the door. "Ah, that must be Xu and the others."

Before I could get a chance to even open my mouth to protest, Cid had opened one of the oak double doors and in strolled a girl in a SeeD uniform, whom I assumed to be Xu, with a cart of several plates of finger sandwiches, chocolates in fancy crystal dishes, two cake savers full of assorted pastries, three different kinds of soda and a single bottle of red wine, all of which were on ice. The 'top SeeDs' followed soon after, and I was amazed to find that Selphie, Zell, Quistis, Irvine and Squall were all that crowded inside. I managed a glace at Squall. He had turned his face away and was trying to strike up a conversation with Quistis as they all stood at one side of the room.

"I'm glad you all could make it," Cid said, formally addressing them. It was odd to see all of them come to a military-like attention stance after seeing them act so casual. "This young lady will make a find addition to our organization in six month's time. Her determination and courage will prove useful in missions, and I have no doubt in my mind that she will rub elbows with you from then on not only on a casual basis, but as one of our elite SeeDs." While he spoke, Xu was pouring up glasses with the wine.

Cid picked up a full one and turned to face me. "Sierra Marcus," he said proudly, "I hope you will live up to my high expectations, as impossible as they may sometimes seem. Please continue to strive to prove yourself, it's a trait that some of our other students lack." At this point, everyone else was holding a glass of wine, and Xu offered one to me as well. I took it and managed a smile.

"To Sierra!" Cid toasted.

"To Sierra!" everyone but Squall cried and raised their glasses in turn. I turned my gaze on him. He eyed me, then raised his glass slightly and swallowed the contents of the glass in one gulp. I scowled, and wondered how no one else could have noticed.

"Well, dig in then," Cid said, smiling. Zell practically jumped on the cart. Quistis giggled and picked up a sandwich. Selphie and Irvine started talking. Selphie looked at me while his back was turned as he bent over to look at the pastries and mouthed, "Later."

Squall sat down in a chair and didn't move a muscle. I felt so bad for what I had said, but it was the truth. He had Rinoa. There wasn't a lot I could do if he already had a girlfriend. But this could be bad. Squall and Seifer seemed to be quite the bitter enemies. What was I going to do?

"Excuse me, sir," I said to Cid, who had been talking to Xu, "I'd like to go to my dorm and get out of these clothes. I appreciate the kind gesture, but I really want to rest right now."

"Oh, of course, you must be tired," Cid said. "I understand. Well, report to me tomorrow morning and I'll give you your schedule. Bright and early, you start lessons with the rest of your class."

"I can't wait," I said, humoring him. My mind was numb and I wanted to sleep, but I needed to talk to Selphie first. I poked her on my way out the door and whispered, "I'm in my dorm, try and get away as soon as you can."

"Of course you did great!" Selphie cried as she hugged me. She then whispered back, "Just trying to keep a low profile. See you soon."

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks." With a final glare at Squall, I turned the knob on one of the doors and made way for the elevator.

I was so paranoid that I was going to run into Seifer on the way to my room, but there was absolutely no sign of him. I don't think I could've stood any more unwelcome surprises for the day.

When I got to my dorm I went straight for my room to pull on jeans and my favorite T-Shirt, which read "Choco Billy's Choco Farm: Bringing you the best for 150 years." I had found it in a thrift store back home in Dollet and fell in love with it on the spot. It was starting to show its age now, the seams starting to fray, but I still loved it the same as when I had first bought it.

Almost as soon as I had finished dressing, there was a knock at the door. "That must be Selphie," I said aloud. "That was quick. I wonder how she was able to sneak off so fast?"

I opened the door, but Selphie wasn't the one standing there like I had anticipated. It was Rinoa.

"H-hi, Rinoa," I said, sounding more than a little surprised. "Shouldn't you be eating now? Lunch will be over in half an hour." But I could have this whole Squall business cleared up by next period if I said the right things to Rinoa...

"I just wanted to congratulate you," she replied with a smile. "I stopped by Cid's office and when they said you weren't there, I decided to come down and try to talk to you before you got in bed. Good work!"

"Thanks," I said, trying to get used to the constant praise. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure, thanks," she said as she stepped in and I closed the door behind her. I sat down on the tiny couch in the tiny living room and so did she.

"Listen, Rinoa, there's something I want to talk to you about," I said a little hesitantly.

"If you mean how I told Squall that you broke into Dr. Kadowaki's office, I didn't mean any harm, I just wanted to stop him from looking so he could report back to Cid and get some sleep," she replied. "Squall looked dead when he got back to the dorm. He told me that Cid wouldn't shut up about what could happen if someone broke into garden and kept him in the office for a good while after he was officially dismissed."

'Is that so?' I thought. 'So, after he reported to Cid, why did he come talk to me in the Quad if he was so tired? Oh jeez...'

I thought for a minute how to word it. "Well...uhm...do you ever worry that Squall could...you know, lose interest in your relationship or...something? You know, like, let his eyes wander and go astray?"

Rinoa tilted her head to the side a little. "Are you asking do I think he'd cheat on me?" she asked. She laughed. "I don't think so! Squall's the most loyal person I know, especially when it comes to those closest to him. Why? Should I be aware of something, Sierra?"

"I...well, it just seems that he went through a lot just to get me that blood," I said, looking at my slippers with my feet inside them. I watched my toes wiggle inside them as was a habit of mine when nervous. "I mean, I'm afraid that he feels more for me than just friendship, and I couldn't bear that, especially considering that you're my friend."

Rinoa turned towards me. "Listen, Sierra. Squall just cares about people in general. He may have a hard time showing it sometimes, but he cares about Quistis, Selphie, Zell and Irvine just as much as he cares about you. If it were any of them dying in his arms, he'd do the same thing. I think it just means that you're one of the group now." She smiled broadly. "I'm glad, because it usually takes him a long time to accept people."

"So...it just means that I'm close to him?" I asked, bewildered.

"Yep," she replied, grinning. "Besides, if he WERE looking away from me, I'd rather it be at one of you girls other than some bitchy little slut that no one knows squat about."

I smiled, trying to resist the urge to laugh. "Thanks Rinoa, you helped cheer me up."

"No problem," she replied. "Happy to help."

Just then, there was another knock at the door. "That must be Selphie," I said as I stood and made way to the door. "I asked her to come down as soon as the meeting with Cid was over so we could talk. You could probably help too, I need more than one standpoint on this situation."

I opened the door and Selphie bounced into the room, panic painted across her face. "What's the emergency??!" she cried. "Are they sending you back?? Your old school closing down?? Did you get poisoned by a Tri-Face and the spike is so far under your skin that they can't get it out and you only have three more hours to live??!"

I glanced back at Rinoa with a look on my face that said, 'Where on this planet did you find this fruitcake?' and she just laughed and shook her head.

"No, Selphie," I said calmly. "It's not any of that, and certainly not as critical as only having three hours to live." I closed the door behind her. "Come in and sit down."

Selphie jumped onto the couch beside Rinoa, and I pulled a chair up from across the room and sat down. "But still, I do need some kind of mental therapy, cuz," I said with my forehead in my hand, "I have a crush on Seifer."

"WHAT??!!" Selphie and Rinoa screamed in unison.

"How did this happen??" Selphie cried.

"WHEN did this happen??" Rinoa exclaimed.

"This morning," I groaned. "After I knocked into him again in the hallway I asked him to walk me to the cave and...well, we talked and got to know each other a little better. I guess it was a kind of weird date."

"But...but...he despised you!" Selphie said, still in shock. "When you bumped into him in the lunch line, I thought, 'Oh, that's it, she'll never be on good terms with the guy again' but...jeez, how'd you do it?!"

"Well, I found out that...he was the one who gave me that blood," I blurted. 'Hey,' I figured, 'It had to come out sometime.'

"WHAT??!!" Selphie screamed again. She looked as if she was going to faint. "SEIFER, of ALL people, gave you a BLOOD DONATION???!"

"Yeah," I said, looking at them both. "I can barely believe it myself. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you before either, Rinoa, I was just in shock I suppose."

"That's ok, I understand," she said calmly.

I looked up at her. "You do?"

"Sure," she replied, smiling. "After all, I never even would've met Cid if it weren't for Seifer. We used to...well, date, kind of."

"You DID??!!" It was my turn to yell. "Well, then, Rinoa, you're the person I should be talking to about this!! What should I do????"

"I..." she started, but trailed off. "Seifer's a nice guy once you understand where he's coming from...downright cute sometimes...but still...I think you should be careful around him."

"What? Why?" Selphie asked before I could get a chance to.

"Because..." She struggled with the words as she stood to leave. "...well Seifer's...easily influenced by what he believes. Let's just say that. I've gotta go. See you two later!" she chirped, and without another word, left the dorm.

Selphie turned to me and said, "Wow, that was unexpected, huh?"

"Yeah, she seemed kind of...upset," I replied.

"Not that, I mean your crush on Seifer!!" she cried. "I never saw it coming!!"

"Oh...heh, me neither," I said, putting a hand behind my head. "I don't know what triggered it." I decided not to mention my dream.

"Well, when are you going to go see him again?" she asked excitedly.

"I don't know if I want to see him at all," I said thoughtfully. "After all, even though I know he likes me back, he's still a jerk. Plus, Rinoa told me he was trouble, just like Squall mentioned earlier. He and Seifer are really hostile towards each other. I mean, what if Squall gets angry with me for being with Seifer?"

"You're not going to let something like that get in the way of love, are you?" Selphie said. "Who cares if Squall objects? It's not like you're HIS girlfriend. And to boot, his girlfriend went out with Seifer before they even met! He doesn't seem to have a problem with that!"

"Hmmm. Maybe you're right," I said. I sat up straight and punched my open palm with my right fist. "Yeah, I shouldn't have to care whether or not Squall likes it! It's my decision to date whom I wish, isn't it? To hell with everyone else!"

"That's the spirit!" Selphie replied, smiling. "Er...without the 'To hell with everyone else' bit, that is."

"You two made me feel so much better," I said. "Thanks. By the way, how did you manage to escape the meeting in Cid's office?"

"Oh! I just told him that I wanted to get a hot dog before lunch was over!" Selphie cried.

We both laughed.


	4. Chapter 4: Unseen Enemies

I didn't remember much of the conversation after that. Selphie left to let me get some rest, so I plopped down on my bed and resumed reading an old novel I'd already read at least several hundred times, but I never did care. I enjoyed it every single time.

I must've fell asleep, because by the time I came to, it was dark. I felt more rested now, and it still wasn't quite my bedtime so, still wearing my jeans and Chocobo Farm shirt, I strapped on my gauntlets and headed out for the training grounds. After all, one victory was no excuse to start getting rusty.

But still, I thought my triumph over the T-Rexaur was sheer fluke. I wanted to save James over everything. It must've been some kind of adrenaline thing. I decided that taking on one of those babies again would be a mistake, so I stuck to my bite bugs and Grats.

Every once and again I would spy some of the older students coming and going through the place, but I didn't think much of it until a certain couple passed me and I realized that they were unarmed. 'What in the world would people be doing in the training ground without any weapons?' I thought.

I decided to find out. I pulled off my gauntlets and hid them behind a rock and some bushes so they wouldn't be found. I didn't want to look conspicuous, after all. And when another male student entered without a weapon to be seen and kept going deep into the brush, I followed behind, just enough so as he didn't suspect anything. He stopped all of a sudden and I ducked into a bush. He looked around, and maneuvered around a few broken trees into a nearby entrance. I waited a moment, then entered myself.

It was a place hidden in the depths of the Training Ground, and couples were all over the place, talking and snuggling. Some were even making out, not at all caring about who might be watching. 'It's a secret rendezvous!' I thought, smiling inwardly. 'I never would've guessed Balamb Garden to have a place like this!'

Though my curiosity was killing me to see if I knew anyone among the other students, or if any cute guys were there alone, I left. After seeing so many couples together I began to feel depressed over Squall and Seifer again, so I gathered my gauntlets from their hiding place and headed for The Quad.

I was really surprised when I arrived to see Squall sitting on the bench. Jeez, did the guy ever sleep? He looked up at me momentarily, making it too late for me to run away, and then looked at the floor again like he had been doing.

Against my better judgment to turn around and stomp away, I walked over casually to the bench and sat down. He didn't move. "Hi Squall," I managed to weakly say. "How come you're not in bed?"

"Can't sleep," he mumbled back so it was barely audible.

"I see," I replied, not being able to think of anything else to say. We sat there in silence for a few agonizing moments before I blurted, "Please Squall, I have to know, what exactly do I mean to you? You act like you really care, but don't you think you're coming on a little too strong? What...what is it you're trying to prove??"

He was purposely looking away from me. "I don't want to see you get hurt," he replied. "Seifer's bad news. He always has been, and he always will be."

"How do you know that??" I cried. "You don't know him!"

"I know him better than I hope you'll ever have to!!" he yelled, quickly turning to glare at me. His face was one of anger and hate, that same fire in his eyes that I had seen the day when we had first ventured out to the fire cave together. For the first time, I was actually scared of him.

"Squall, I...I do appreciate the attempt to protect me," I said, my voice quivering on the brink of tears, "but...I don't need your protection. Rinoa does. She's with you, and being a sorceress and all, she couldn't have a better bodyguard and confidante. Just tell me...tell me that you don't care for me so I can hurry and get on with my life."

Squall looked away. "I can't do that," he said. "I've been trying to tell myself that I don't. I can't sleep because it upsets me so much. I care for you a lot, and I don't know why. I barely know you, but somehow I feel like I'm going to have to look after you."

"Please, Squall...don't..." I begged, my eyes beginning to overflow. I put my face in my hands and began to sob with all that had happened in the last few days. It was a welcome comfort when Squall put his arms around me and let me cry on his shoulder. A second later I realized what I was doing.

"No!!" I yelled, pushing him away and leaping off the bench. "I can't! You can't tell me how to conduct my life! You can't tell me what to do! Squall, please, just LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" And with those words, I picked up my gauntlets and dashed out of The Quad, back to the dorms.

I closed the door and leaned with my back against it. I slowly slid down, and pulled my knees to my chest. I sobbed loudly, more sorrowfully than I had ever done before. I cared for Squall too, but it just couldn't happen. If he wouldn't stay away on his own, then Seifer would make sure that he did. After a long while, I got up and went into my room. I fell onto my bed, and cried myself to sleep.

The next day, I got out of bed and dressed in my new blue school uniform. I finally looked like one of the crowd, and was able to keep my calm as I walked to the elevator to get to Cid's office and retrieve my new schedule. However, inside, I was completely torn apart. This was the best way, I was sure of it. Squall would definitely back off if I was with Seifer. And Seifer liked me too, so maybe I could try and forget what I felt for Squall. I'd be myself again, eventually.

"Good morning Headmaster Cid," I said a little too dully as I stood in front of his desk. I meant to sound a little more chipper than I did, but there wasn't a lot I could do. I just felt so dead inside after last night.

"Get enough sleep last night, Sierra?" he asked as he gazed up at me with a concerned look on his face.

"Haven't been adjusting well to the beds here," I replied. In actual fact, last night I had been waking up on the hour to nightmares that I couldn't remember for the life of me. I would be drenched in sweat and fresh tears streaked my face, and when I finally did get back to sleep, I'd only wake up once again to the same thing.

"Well, you'll get used to it eventually," Cid said, scanning over a sheet of paper. He then passed it over the desk and handed it to me. "Here you are, as promised."

"Thank you sir," I said, looking it over myself. A timetable of room numbers and last names, which I presumed were the professors. "Will there be any changes to my schedule before graduation?"

"Just the one with your field trip to Esthar," Cid said, scribbling on another sheet of paper. "Squall told me about it yesterday morning after you had left for your mission. By the way, the date for departure has been pushed behind to two days from now, so I suggest that you pack a small bag soon." He smiled at me. "I think you'll like Esthar, it's quite a sight."

"I'll bet," I breathed as I folded the paper and shoved it into my pocket.

"You are dismissed," Cid said, not catching on at all to my utter displeasure. "Good luck with your first day of classes."

"Thank you," I called as I walked out the open door. I heaved a sigh. Great. Now I had to go to Esthar and endure this heartache constantly. It would be pretty hard not to think about it if Squall was always around. With these thoughts on my mind, I started for class. I was on my way to my first one when Seifer stopped me in the hall.

"Hey Sierra, I wanted to know if I could talk to you for a minute," he said shyly.

I smiled. His innocence was almost endearing. "Sure. What's up?"

"Well, first of all I wanted to apologize for yesterday," he said, a hand behind his head as he kicked the floor with the toe of his boot. "Squall and me, we don't get along very well."

"It's ok," I replied, trying to be casual. "It's not really any of my business, is it?"

"Well...I dunno, maybe," he said, a little confused. "But if it's ok, I wanted to ask you...um...you wanna get together sometime? You know, on a date?"

"Sure," I said. This was great, now I didn't have to muster up the courage to ask him. "Um...hey, do you know about that secret place in the Training Grounds? You know, where students go and...uhm...yeah?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I do."

"Well, meet me there at 8:30, alright?" I said. "Sound like a plan?"

"Sure does," he replied, sounding excited. "I'll see you then, ok?"

"Yeah, I gotta get to my first class." I grinned. "See you tonight." He grinned back and continued down the hallway.

Classes were interesting enough with the high-tech computers used basically for...well, everything, let alone the lessons that were taught there. Junctioning was third period, right before lunch, and a little hard to get used to. But the professor was kind enough to make an example of me with my new Ifrit, and by lunchtime, I had another GF, Queazecotl. It was hard to believe, but I was actually beginning to understand what I was supposed to learn here.

At lunch, I wasn't in the mood to face anybody, so I just took my food to The Quad, which consisted of a slice of pepperoni pizza, a can of lime soda, a package of twinkies and a shiny red apple.

I flew through my last two classes for the day with nothing else on my mind but Seifer and our date, and I hurried to my dorm to change. I decided that I would wear the same thing I wore when I first went after Ifrit, wearing a pair of black pants with two red, parallel stripes up the side of each pant leg instead of the red ones that were now torn to shreds. It looked nice and it matched, which was all that really mattered to me. With a final glance in the mirror, I fiddled my glasses on my nose, gave my hair a final flick with a brush and headed out for the secret spot in the Training Grounds.

I felt a little nervous as I retraced my steps from the night before. What would Seifer be like now that we spent some time alone? Would he be a gentleman and try to take things slow, or would he be so forward as to do anything short of raping me? Secretly I was kind of hoping for the latter of the two, and I smacked myself in the forehead for thinking such things. It was just a date, after all. He probably just wanted to spend some time with me, nothing more.

I arrived and scanned the scene of lovers before me, looking for him. I saw him over in the corner, right knee propped up, his right arm resting on it. He looked really attractive sitting like that, and his smile only added to the effect. I blushed, and went over and sat down next to him.

"You're late," he said, poking me in the nose.

"Sorry, I kind of lost my way," I replied sheepishly. "I've only been here once, and I had to follow someone without them knowing to get here."

"Stalking boys now, are we?" he teased. I blushed again, and he laughed at me.

"No, nothing like that," I replied, now completely embarrassed. "I was just doing some late night training and I wondered why all these people were coming and going here without any weapons."

"Sure, sure," he replied. He suddenly turned solemn. "You're really serious about becoming a SeeD, huh?"

"Of course," I said, gazing up at the starry sky. It was really clear, without a cloud in sight. "I don't think there's anything I could possibly want more."

"Why?" Seifer asked, staring at the stars as well.

"What?" I replied, turning my head to look him in the face.

"It's a simple question," he said, looking at me as well. "Why do you want to become a SeeD so badly? Why do you have this insatiable thirst to prove yourself?"

"I...I don't know," I said thoughtfully, looking at my feet. They moved as I struggled to think up a reply, back and forth, back and forth..."I've always been that way, whether it has to do with becoming a SeeD or not."

"I also want to prove myself," Seifer said, staring off into the sky again. "No one understands me. They don't know how badly I want to become a SeeD, how badly I want to regain their trust in me, how badly I want to finally graduate." He looked down at the floor sadly.

"I understand you," I said, trying to look him in the face. "At least, I like to think so."

He turned towards me again and our eyes met. They were warm, inviting. "More than anyone else ever has," he replied. He was slowly drawing closer and closer.

"I...I'm glad..." I said, losing my base as I gazed into his eyes. Then, all of a sudden, I closed my eyes and our lips met. He kissed me slowly, softly. It seemed to last a sweet eternity before we finally broke apart. He smiled and cupped my face in his hand.

"I've never known what it felt like to be understood," he said, staring into my eyes again. "It felt nice."

We both chuckled, and I looked away, smiling. "Yeah, it did," I agreed.

We talked a little more, about trivial things like school and Balamb's next destination. It was getting late, and we were still talking as Seifer walked me back to my dorm.

"This is where I leave you now," I said as we stopped in front of my door. "We've got school in the morning."

"Will you come out to play again tomorrow night?" Seifer asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else," I replied, smiling broadly.

"Same time, same channel?" he asked, grinning.

"Sure," I said, hugging him. "But perhaps you'd like to come pick me up?"

"Alright," he said. He poked me gently in the nose. "Tomorrow night, then." With that, he went on his way.

I went into my dorm and locked the door. I couldn't stop smiling as I got ready for bed. Maybe this whole mess would turn out all right after all. I slipped under the covers and immediately fell asleep.

The next day, I went to class as planned, and walked out of Junctioning before lunch with a broad smile on my face. I was actually learning something! Junctioning different GFs gave different abilities, but first they had to learn them. I joined the line in the cafeteria, and wondered how no one had seen me the day previous. I scanned around for Selphie and the others, thinking that I could probably take eating with them today. I spied them at their usual table.

I selected my food, today, a turkey sandwich, orange juice, a chocolate pudding cup and another apple, and made my way over to them. I was relieved yet somewhat curious as to why Squall wasn't there.

"Sierra!!" Selphie cried and raced over to me, nearly knocking me over with her hug. She let go. "Sorry, don't want you dropping your lunch. Where were you yesterday? I was worried when you didn't show up for lunch, and you didn't answer when I came to knock for you last night. What's up?"

I sat down to the table and started munching on half of my sandwich. "Well, I ate in The Quad yesterday," I began through chewing, "and I went out to the Training Grounds last night for a little more practice." Hey, it didn't have to be a complete lie, just a half truth.

"Working hard, as usual," Quistis chimed in. "I've been talking with some of the other professors, they say she's catching on really quickly."

I blushed. "Stop it, you're embarrassing me," I replied, smiling. "I just really enjoy what's taught here, it's a far cry from the normal subjects I'm used to."

"Well, don't cry too much when we tear you away from it at 6:00 tomorrow morning," Zell told me as he ogled the pudding on my tray. I pushed it away from him so he couldn't grab it.

"Yeah, Esthar," I said, trying to fake enthusiasm. "I can't wait to go!"

"Me either," Selphie said, smiling. "Then Rinoa can get rid of her sorceress powers for good."

I had almost forgotten that was the whole reason for going to Esthar in the first place. I looked over to Rinoa who hadn't said a word up to this point. She looked somewhat withdrawn, like she was in her own little world. A frown disgraced her pretty features, and she looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey Rinoa?" Irvine said, waving a hand in front of her face. She snapped out of her trance. "You ok?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said, trying to recover something that resembled a smile. "Just lost in thought, that's all."

"You don't think you'll miss your powers, do you?" Quistis inquired. "After all, you are prohibited to deliberately use them unless under dire emergency conditions."

"I know," she said, the half smile disappearing. "I...I don't think I'll miss them. I just feel a bit nervous about putting myself completely in someone else's hands. It makes me anxious."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that Dr. Kurai knows exactly what she's doing," Zell said, trying to cheer her up.

"Of course she does!" Selphie cried as she jumped out of her seat and gave Rinoa a hug. "Her powers will be contained forever and she'll be able to lead a normal life like before! Right, Rinoa?"

"Y-yeah," she said, trying that half smile again. "I...I can't wait."

But I knew better. Rinoa was nervous about something more than just this procedure. She was doing just as much a good job at hiding it than I was. I couldn't believe no one else saw through the both of us. Perhaps it was because we both had some amount of depression to hide. If Squall were here, he probably would notice, and say something about it. That could be bad.

"Hey, where's Squall?" I ventured to ask. "Doesn't he believe in lunch anymore?"

"He's making final preparations on the Ragnarok," Selphie said maniacally, rubbing her hands together. "My baby, she will fly again!"

"Uh...what is she talking about??" I whispered to Irvine, leaning toward him.

He laughed. "Our stronger, faster, better space-slash-airship," he whispered back. "Selphie here is her unofficial pilot."

"She's got a license, right?" I said nervously.

"Selphie knows what she's doing," he said, looking up at her. "Right baby?"

"Oh, dear god..." I said, putting my forehead in my hand.

While everyone else engaged in a conversation that I didn't understand, something about how the white SeeDs were doing, whatever they were, I scribbled a note to Rinoa on my napkin. Basically, it read:

Rinoa,

Need to talk. Meet me in my dorm after classes. Come alone.

Sierra

It seemed to serve its purpose, so when I had finished eating, I stood up to leave, saying that I wanted to get to class early, and slipped it to her as I walked by. I stayed behind long enough to make sure she read it, and then I went straight for my next class, though I was 10 minutes early.

After school was over, I rushed to my dorm to change out of my uniform and into my jeans and t-shirt again. I was starting to despise those student uniforms. They were god awful uncomfortable. I went into the living room and sat on the couch as I waited for that knock at the door.

Finally, after another 15 minutes, Rinoa came to call. I opened the door for her, and she stood there with a really nervous look on her face. She was all jumpy, like she expected me to strangle her as soon as I had her inside and closed the door.

"You...wanted to talk to me?" she asked meekly.

"Yeah," I replied. "Come on in."

She did as was told and joined me on the couch. She looked really anxious and not at all herself. "You seemed really off at lunch today," I started. "And I could tell that it wasn't just the procedure of getting your powers removed that was making you nervous."

"Sierra, I'd really like to get out of here..." she said.

"Tell me what's on your mind," I said, concerned. "I don't like seeing you so sad Rinoa, it's not becoming of you."

She sighed, then took a deep breath. "Can I ask you something?" she said.

Uh-oh. Was this about Squall? "Sure," I replied. "Anything."

"Well..." she hesitated. "Two things, really. First...please...I know it sounds odd but...please, against all odds, stay away form Seifer."

"What? Why?" I asked. I was really confused now. Stay away from SEIFER??

"Yes, please, just trust me on this," she said. "I know you like him, but it's dangerous for you to be with him now. And the other...it's a bit more complicated...and I can't really tell you much about it..."

"What is it?" I asked. I was really worried now. This seemed more serious than I had first realized.

"If...if something happened to me before the procedure in Esthar...something critical to my life...you know..." She was really struggling to get this out. "Would you...would you be the one to take my powers??" She looked up at me then. Her eyes were again frightened and glassy, like she was going to cry.

"But why would I have to do that??" I exclaimed.

"Please, just promise me that you'd do that for me!!" she cried, her eyes overflowing and tears spilling down her cheeks. "Above all else, those two things!"  
"But Seifer...I can't...and I thought you were going to tell me to stay away from Squall..." I tried to make sense of what she was saying.

"Oh no, if anything, try to stay as close to Squall as possible!!" she yelled, holding me by the shoulders. "Please, he'll...I can't say anymore..." she turned away, wiping her eyes.

"Rinoa, what are you trying to say??" I cried. "You're not going to kill yourself, are you??"

"No, of course not...I love life...I'd never be able to do such a thing," she sniffed. "But if anything were to happen...I'd like it to be you..."

I put my arm around her shoulder and she snuggled up to me and cried. I had no idea what all this meant. It was really scary, and if something was going to happen to Rinoa tomorrow before she got her powers taken away, then I'd be there for her, no matter what it could be.

"I...I gotta go," she stammered through sobs, and she stood to leave.

"Well...alright, but Rinoa...please tell me that you'll be ok," I replied as I saw her to the door.

"I...I'll be a-alright," she said. "Thanks Sierra. Y-you...you promise, right?"

I sighed. "I wish I knew why cuz I really like Seifer and it's such an odd request...but yes, I promise. I'm seeing Seifer tonight, but...I could call off seeing him ever again after tonight. If you think he's that hazardous..."

"I want you to be safe," Rinoa said, holding my hands in hers. "Something's going to happen, Sierra, and I when it does I want you to keep your distance from him. It's not going to be easy, or pretty, but I beg of you, keep away from him."

"Ok," I said. Of course it wasn't going to be easy. I was starting to fall for him, and here Rinoa was, telling me it wasn't safe. "Go get some rest, you'll feel better."  
"I will, thanks," she said as she walked off down the hall.

"See you tomorrow morning!" I called after her as she disappeared out of sight. She didn't make any motion to say that she had heard me.

I sat down on the couch to think about what Rinoa had just asked of me. Number one: Stay away from Seifer. I had no idea how Seifer could be dangerous, he was so sweet when he was with me. And number two: If anything were to happen to her, be the one to relieve her of her sorceress powers. This all wasn't just hypothetical. I knew that Rinoa could tell that something was soon going to endanger her life, in Esthar.

Another knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. (Author's note: Yes, there is a lot of knocking at my dorm in this fic. Perhaps I should consider installing a doorbell?? Natch.) I knew who it was, and I was dreading the night ahead of me.

I stood up and opened the door, and just as I had dreaded, it was Seifer.

"Hey there," he greeted me. "Are you ready yet?"

"Yeah, you come in for a second? I've got to talk to you," I replied. I knew I was coming off as nervous, but I couldn't hide it.

"Sure," he said as he came in and plopped onto the couch. "What's up?"

"Well..." I said as I joined him. "Seifer, I...I really like you..."

"Wait a minute," Seifer said suddenly, "you're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

"Seifer, I'm sorry...there's something wrong and I don't know what it is but-"

"No, it's ok, I understand," he said as he stood to leave. "But just take a good look at what you're missing." He pointed a thumb at his face. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Seifer, wait, it's nothing like that..." I pleaded as he turned the doorknob.

"It's alright, you don't have to say it," he said, trying to hold in his anger. "Sometimes the truth hurts more than lies." And with that, he slammed the door behind him.

"Seifer...I'm sorry..." I whispered. I liked him so much. Was I really supposed to just give up on him like that? Why did Rinoa have to say that just now of all times? Why couldn't she have mentioned something before I started falling for him?

My mind was such a blank. Without another thought to the situation, I went to bed.


	5. Chapter 5: Sorrow

I had a really disturbing dream that night. I was watching Seifer and Squall have a gunblade battle, but this time, one to the death. There was no restraint on Squall's behalf, and each swung at the other savagely, aiming each swing to strike a mortal blow. I kept calling out, screaming at the both of them to put down their weapons and stop fighting, but it was like I was invisible, because neither Squall nor Seifer acknowledged my existence, even with a glance or hesitation with his sword.

Frustrated, I finally ran at them to try and stop their fight, and came in the middle of their blades. They passed through me because I didn't exist. That explained why they couldn't see me, I wasn't there.

So I had to watch in horror as they dueled, slashing at each other. They backed off briefly, with minor scratches and bruises. Squall was trying to catch his breath on the ground when Seifer suddenly got back up and tried to take another swing at him.

"Squall!! LOOK OUT!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. His head jerked up, as if he had heard me, and he turned around to find me but he couldn't because I wasn't even there. Seifer's gunblade made a large, deep gash across Squall's back. He cried out in pain, then fell, eyes unseeing, to the floor. There he lay in a lifeless heap, blood spreading out around him, as Seifer started laughing. He looked straight at me. He could see me. It was as if screaming so loudly had given me physical form again.

And then he started stalking towards me, purposefully, rhythmically. I tried to run, but I was only an arm's length away and he caught my by the back of the collar of my shirt. I was wearing what I had been wearing my first day at Balamb, my usual outfit, but something seemed a little different about it. I had no time to figure it out as he pulled me back, and in one quick motion, turned me around to face him and brought his face up close to me. He smirked.

"Where's your knight now, Sierra?" he sneered, grinning something almost evil.

"Seifer, what are you doing?" I said, shivering. I was scared.

"Go, be with him now!!" he cried, raising his gunblade over his head.

"Wait, Seifer, no!!!" I yelled. "Please!! NO!!"

"No!!" I awoke with a start. I had been crying in my sleep. I wiped the tears from my face and frantically threw the sheets off me. I looked at my clock. It was 4:00 AM. I still had to pack for the trip, and I had to be ready for 6:00. At least I wouldn't be late for boarding time.

I took off my pajamas and decided to inspect my shredded legs. I unwound the bandages and laid them aside. I seemed to be healing up rather nicely. I decided that I didn't need bandages anymore, since I didn't seem to be bleeding, so quickly got dressed in my black and red outfit and started packing some clothes and other necessities into a backpack. Cid said to pack small, so I guessed that we'd be there no more than a day or so. But if the Ragnarok was faster than garden itself, then what was the point in staying in Esthar overnight at all? Still, all the same, I decided that I'd probably like to stay there for a little bit. I mean, if Balamb had been a sight for me when I had first arrived, then Esthar must certainly be something if everyone talked about it in such high regard.

It was comforting to know that even though I was down in the dumps, I was still excited about going. Sure, something terrible beyond my comprehension was about to combust in a billion metaphorical explosions, and I'd have to endure Squall's presence the entire time, but besides both those afflictions, this was what I had always wanted. I had always wanted to travel to my heart's content, and knowing that SeeDs could do that within hours was an exciting thought indeed.

But still, the idea of something happening to Rinoa and the promise I had made last night were both upfront in my mind. And to boot, stay away from Seifer. But I didn't want to. With all my heart I didn't want to. How could someone who was so nice and caring with me in private be so dangerous?

That one question rang about in my mind as I kept packing. It was 5:20 when I had finished, and I realized that the cafeteria wouldn't be open for me to snag any breakfast. I was just about to open my mouth to curse every form of bad fortune that had recently come my way when came a knock at my door. I went to answer and opened the door.

"Hiyee!" Selphie cried upon seeing my face.

"Yiee!" I cried at the sudden noise, then covered my own mouth. "Sheesh Selphie, try and keep the volume down, will ya? Other students are still in bed!"

"Well, I have the authority to yell at 5:00 AM if I want to!" she exclaimed as she came in and shut the door, contrast to her voice, quietly behind her. She held out a brown paper bag to me with some amount of pride. "Here you go. I packed breakfast for everybody."

I was touched. "Aww, thanks. You know, I was just beginning to get that rumble in my stomach."

"Well I've got excellent timing, then," she replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I made it myself!"

I peeked inside the bag and saw a neat little ham sandwich on whole wheat, a bottle of orange juice, and a baggie of really ugly-looking chocolate chip cookies. 'Well, it isn't how they look, it's how they taste, right?' I thought to myself.

"Go on, try the cookies! I want to know what you think of them!" she cried.

"O...k..." I said hesitantly. I reached in and pulled out the baggie of cookies, fished in for one, and held it up. I grimaced before I took a bite.

They were delicious! "Wow Selphie, these are awesome!" I exclaimed. "They're so moist and tender! Where did you learn to make cookies like these?"

"Well, the cafeteria had trouble selling their old ones because they looked and tasted awful," she explained. "I robbed the recipe a few months ago and tried to improve on it. Turns out all they needed was a little bit of butter."

I marveled at her cooking skills some more as we sat down to talk and so I could finish my bagged breakfast. I was in the middle of my sandwich when Selphie asked, "So, is Rinoa alright?"

I nearly choked on my mouthful of bread and ham. "W-what?"

"I know you wanted to talk to her after classes yesterday," Selphie replied. "I saw you drop the note in her lap. I don't blame you, she looked so down. She's ok, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she's ok. Just a case of the jitters," I lied. "You know, about this whole 'still experimental' business."

"Yeah, I would be too," Selphie said thoughtfully. "I mean, the only other successful scientist to experiment on sorceress powers was Dr. Odine, and he disappeared."

"No one knows what happened to him?" I asked as I opened the bottle of orange juice.

"Not a soul," she said. "Some say he went to stay at the Space Station to work alone for a while. Others say Ultimecia possessed another sorceress and did him in. But neither of those rumors can be true because for one, Zell was at the Space Station recently on a delivery mission and even asked about Dr. Odine, and he wasn't there. And the second one can't be true because Rinoa is the one and only sorceress left, and she's been with all of us ever since the end of the sorceress hunt."

"I see," I replied, balling up the paper bag. "Eep, my other cookie!" I quickly unraveled the bag again and retrieved the last one that I had forgotten about.

Selphie continued with her story. "Actually, Balamb SeeDs were hired just a few months ago to try and track down Dr. Odine. They came back empty handed, said that they couldn't find even a trace of him. So if he's hiding, he's hiding himself well."

"You'd think that a scientist of that caliber wouldn't be able to run away and not have people recognize him, huh?" I said. Then I stood to take a look at my bedside clock. It was 5:40. "Hey, Selphie, we'd better go or we'll be late."

"Don't worry Sierra," Selphie replied with that maniacal look on her face again. "The Ragnarok isn't going anywhere without her pilot!"

"Right, I forgot," I said with my hand on the doorknob. I suddenly realized that I had a fear of flying. Cooking and piloting an aircraft, though I wished otherwise, were not at all similar tasks.

We went immediately to the hangar, talking the whole while. When we got there, I beheld an enormous red aircraft that looked somewhat similar to a dragon. I honestly thought for a moment we'd have to fight it.

"There she is, my other baby," Selphie announced before I had time to ask how on earth we were to defeat such a huge monster. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"If you can get over the initial shock of looking at her, sure," I said, trying to push my heart back down out of my throat.

Before Selphie could comment on that, Zell came running down the ramp from the cargo hold. "Get your butt in the cockpit, Selphie! We gotta go!"

"I'm not late yet!!" Selphie yelled as she sprinted off to join him. I followed anxiously.

We ran through a bunch of different rooms and sliding doors. We got on a small elevator and lifted up to the cockpit, where Selphie practically leaped into the pilot's seat.

'Oh god, she's serious,' I thought. I looked around and everyone else was there as well. Including Squall.

Memories of my nightmare from last night came flooding back to me, and I swallowed the lump that was threatening to form in my throat. Seeing Squall lying there, motionless, made me desperately want to cry. But I wanted no one delving into my thoughts right now. It was Rinoa I had to be worried about.

I spied her standing in the corner, arms wrapped protectively around herself. She looked subdued, as if she knew something completely beyond her control was indefinitely going to engulf her. I wanted to try and console her, but something told me not to at the moment, that she needed this time by herself.

"Alright Selphie, we're ready when you are," Irvine announced, who was standing by her side. Squall was staring absently out the window. Quistis had her arms crossed and was watching every move that Selphie made at the controls. Zell had his face and hands pressed up against the glass and was acting like a little boy in the window of a candy shop.

"Alrighty then! Liftoff!" she cried triumphantly. The Ragnarok took off at breakneck speed, yet everyone in the cockpit was still standing. I was amazed. Selphie could keep this huge thing steady and bake cookies? And I was friends with the only sorceress left in the entire world! What kind of people were I mixed up with??

I walked over to Quistis. "When do you think we'll arrive in Esthar?" I asked.

"Oh, in about another 5 minutes or so," she replied casually.

"5 minutes??!" I exclaimed. "And we're traveling to a completely different continent???"

"Yep!" Zell cried, overhearing my amazement. "This baby can fly past Mach 3!"

"Wow," I breathed. This was unbelievable.

"Of course, the people of Esthar designed this ship, so I wouldn't expect any less," Squall said out of the blue. His voice was cold and it was as if he was talking to someone completely ignorant of the world around her. I pouted, and decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the 5-minute trip.

And just as Quistis had said, 5 minutes later the Ragnarok was lowering, preparing to dock in Esthar.

There was a small group of people waiting to greet us as we all walked down the ramp out of the cargo bay. All were dressed in futuristic-looking robes except for one, who was wearing a button-up shirt and a pair of khakis. Even with the goofy grin he was wearing, I couldn't help but think that he looked very much like an aged Squall.

"Hey everybody," he greeted us.

"Hi Sir Laguna!" Selphie cried back at him. She then looked at another dark-skinned person and a larger person both dressed in robes and chimed, "Hi Kiros! Hi Ward!" Everyone exchanged greetings except for myself.

"Laguna, I thought you'd be too busy to come and meet us," Quistis said formally. "Not enough to do as president lately?" No way. This guy was the president of Esthar??

"What's there not to do," Laguna replied, throwing his hands up in the air. "What with all the rebuilding and such I've had nothing to do but paperwork for the last 8 months! It's amazing that I have enough time to sleep considering all that needs to be done. But you know me, I can't sit still for too long or else that sense of adventure comes calling again. Things have to stay interesting or I'm outta there, you know?"

"More than most I'm sure," Irvine replied.

I tuned out at that point, and glanced over at Squall. He had his arms around Rinoa. He knew that something was wrong, he could sense it. It was just something he was good at. He had a kind of sixth sense about things and could usually tell if someone was hiding something. It made me almost sad to see them together. It was as if they both knew that they could very well be sharing their last moments together.

"And who's this new young face I see?" Laguna's voice penetrated my wandering thoughts. I turned to face him and smiled.

"This is Sierra Marcus, a SeeD in training from Dollet," Ouistis introduced me. "Sierra, this is Laguna Loire, president of Esthar."

Laguna came over to shake my hand. "Nice to meet you Sierra," he said with that goofy grin. "But I had no idea that there was a Dollet Garden."

"There isn't," I replied casually. "I was just a normal student when I was recently transferred to Balamb because I had more potential. I'm really honored to have this chance."

"If you're hanging around with company like this, you'll be a great SeeD in no time," Laguna said with a wink. "But after today's excursion, who knows if we'll even need SeeDs anymore?" He looked up at Squall and Rinoa and smiled.

"Yes, I'd...like to start as soon as possible," Rinoa replied, trying to smile.

"But of course," Laguna said. "Dr. Kurai is expecting you. I've arranged an escort for you, but I've got to get back to the office to continue my paperwork." I could swear that I saw Laguna shudder after saying this.

"We'll try to see if we can find some loopholes in Laguna's busy schedule later so you can all have dinner together," Kiros spoke up. "God knows he could really use the nutrition nowadays."

"Quiet you," Laguna said with a laugh. "You're making me out to be some kind of workaholic!"

"Don't worry Laguna, we all know you're anything but," Zell cracked.

Everyone laughed and then piled into the hovering car that was waiting for us. "I'll try to be around by 6:00. If you don't show up, you'll be sentencing me to another night of hard paperwork, so please try not to be late!" Laguna's voice was almost pleading and most everyone chuckled.

"We'll see what we can do," Irvine said, smiling. "See you later, Laguna." Everyone said their goodbyes except Squall. Laguna looked at him with insistence.

"You'll be there, Squall?" he asked hopefully.

Squall looked at him, almost frowning. "Will you bring Ellone?"

"But of course!" he exclaimed. "She's not one to be bossed around, but if she knows you'll be there, she jump at the chance." He looked around the inside of the car at everyone one final time. "See you all later!" He then shut the door and the car took off. Laguna, Kiros and Ward all waved as we drove out of sight.

Everyone chatted excitedly as we drove onward, except Squall and Rinoa. They were talking quietly to each other, trying not to let anyone hear what they were saying. I just stared out the window at the passing metropolis. It was a gorgeous city, so advanced and futuristic. What I wouldn't give to stay here on vacation for a week or two. Even in that space of time, who knows if I'd be able to see the entire place?

The car drove us to the outskirts of town, where a small building stood. It stopped and we all piled out.

"Wow, Dr. Kurai is even using Dr. Odine's old laboratory," Selphie said.

"It's going to be kind of weird stepping in there again," Squall said, staring at the place with Rinoa in his arms.

"We'd better get it over with," Quistis supplied. "The sooner the better, right?" Everyone turned to look at Rinoa.

"That's right," she told us all. "Let's go on in. She's expecting us."

I felt a chill go down my spine as we approached the automatic doors. Something definitely was not right.

We all piled into a room with a switchboard of sorts near a large window. It was some kind of observatory deck. A few scientists dressed in those same futuristic-type robes that Kiros and Ward had been wearing were seated there, pushing buttons and turning knobs every now and again. An elevator dinged to our right and the doors opened to reveal an attractive woman who looked in her early thirties, with black hair cropped to above her shoulders. Her eyes were quite an illuminating green and she was dressed in a traditional white lab coat and a purple dress that came to her knees. She smiled as she surveyed us all.

"Ah, you must be the SeeDs from Balamb," she said cheerfully, her high heels clicking on the floor as she walked toward us. "Welcome. I'm Dr. Gina Kurai. Please follow me." She got back into the elevator. It was big enough to fit us all, but just barely. She pushed a button and it went down a floor.

We all piled out once more, followed her through a corridor, and into another room with a really odd-looking machine in it. It was a kind of empty tank with stairs leading up both the inside and outside of the left and wires hanging down from the top. I looked around, and saw the scientists in the room above. We were in the room seen from the observation deck.

"This is what we will be using to extract sorceress Rinoa's powers," Dr. Kurai began. "The procedure, done correctly, will be completely safe and painless." She looked around at all of us. "If you are prepared, we may begin immediately."

"Can I keep someone in the room with me?" Rinoa asked right away. "You know, outside the tank? Just to make me feel better?"

"I am staying in the room to make sure there will be no complica-" Dr. Kurai started.

"Someone who knows me, who's close to me," Rinoa interrupted, nearly glaring at the doctor. "I'm very nervous about this."

The doctor sighed, obviously rather frustrated. "Very well," she breathed. "But they will have to keep a distance from the tank."

"Alright," Rinoa replied.

"Don't worry, I'll be here," Squall said, taking Rinoa's hand.

"Actually Squall, I'd like Sierra to stay in the room," Rinoa said to him, gazing into his eyes.

"What?! But Rinoa, I-"

"Please Squall," she protested. "I know you don't like it, but I'll...I'll be back when it's all over," she said, looking down.

Squall paused for a moment. "Alright," he sighed, then kissed her on the forehead. "But if you're uncomfortable at all, just say the word and I'll have them shut the whole thing down from the deck, ok?"

"I will," she said. She let go of him and faced the doctor. "I'm ready now."

"Excellent," Dr. Kurai said as she turned around and pushed a button that opened the lid of the tank. "Everyone else, if you would all please take the elevator back up to the observation deck."

Everyone else but Rinoa and I started to leave. "Good luck Rinoa!!" Selphie cried, smiling. Quistis waved, Zell grinned, Irvine gave a thumbs-up, and Squall just gazed mournfully at his girlfriend before the door slid shut behind him.

"Up these steps then, Rinoa, and climb into the tank and stand in the middle, under the wires," Dr. Kurai instructed her.

Rinoa began walking towards her, but as she passed me by she whispered, "Don't let your guard down. Stay as close to the tank as humanly possible without her getting in the way." I didn't have time to confirm that I had understood before she was climbing the steps up and then down into the tank.

"Stage one initiate," Dr. Kurai spoke into an intercom on the wall near the button she had used to open the tank. The lid closed once again and all of a sudden the wires inside the tank seemed to come alive. They attached themselves at certain places on Rinoa's body; her wrists, her temples, her ankles, her chest. (Author's note: Hentai fans, this is not to be taken as kinky in any way, shape, or form. Please remove imagination from grimy gutter, wash, rinse, and repeat. Always repeat.) It was kind of creepy to see those things come to life. It was as if they were threatening to suck the life out of her.

"Stage one complete," came an answering voice from the intercom. There was a bit of background noise, and I gazed up to see Selphie chattering excitedly with the others. Squall just stood there with his arms crossed, glaring down. I couldn't help but think that he was staring directly at me...

"Please miss, if you would stand behind me and put on this smock," Dr. Kurai told me as she held out a lab coat for me.

"Of course," I replied. I did as was told, pulling my arms through the sleeves. It was a bit too big, but that wasn't what was on my mind right at the moment. Rinoa knew that something was going to happen, and she wanted me to be ready for it. I looked at her in the tank. Her eyes were closed tightly, and she looked really tense.

"Stage two initiate," Dr. Kurai spoke into the intercom. The lights in the whole room except for the tank went down, casting a blue hue over the doctor and myself. The machine made a noise as if it were powering up.

"Stage two complete," came the answering voice from the intercom. But no one else spoke now. Everyone was waiting anxiously to see what was going to happen. Zell and Selphie both had their faces pressed up against the glass, watching closely.

"Stage three initiate," Dr. Kurai told the intercom intently. "All stations prepare backups in case of energy failure."

The lights in the tank got brighter and the noise got louder. I squinted. The light was making it near impossible to see, but I kept whatever gaze I could on Rinoa. Her eyes were still closed, but I thought for sure that I could see tears streaming down her face.

"Stage three complete," came the intercom voice. "Preparing extraction. Awaiting signal."

"Stage four initiate," Dr. Kurai stated. Immediately there was a loud buzzing noise and the light became blinding. I covered my eyes.

And then it happened. There was a loud BOOM!! and I was thrown backwards against the wall along with shards of glass and metal. My arms burned as I struggled to sit up and I tried desperately to open my eyes, but the air was hazy with smoke. I began crawling over glass splinters and jagged metal towards the tank. All I could think about was if Rinoa was alright.

I reached her finally, cutting my hands badly on the shards of glass stuck in the bottom of the tank. The wires were still attached to Rinoa, but had come loose of the top of the tank. Her clothes were torn and she looked to be burned in places, and I could see now up close that her tears still stained her cheeks, making a clean path through the black soot on her face. I propped her up in my arms.

"Rinoa!" I cried. "Rinoa, are you all right??!"

She coughed. "S...Sierra..." she choked.

"Rinoa, we've got to get you out of here," I said, trying to keep my wits about me. "Come on, stay with me."

"You...you...p...promised..." she stammered. "...you...did..."

It dawned on me, and I suddenly understood. "You knew, didn't you," I said quietly. "You knew this would happen, didn't you."

"...s...sorry...I...didn't 't...they'd...have taken...me...away...by...force..." she tried desperately to explain. "...S-Sierra, this...whole thing...it was...was...staged...a...sham...watch...out for...Kurai...she...w...wants...the...p-powers...and...and...please...stay by...Squall..." She held up her hand to me.

"Rinoa, I..." I didn't want to be the one to end her life. I didn't want to lose such a good friend.

"...p-please...hurry..."she stammered.

I hesitated, then grasped her hand firmly in my own. I felt a little jolt between us, like a tiny shock, nothing more. I looked at her face. It looked to be a great effort, but she smiled. "...t-thank...you...Si...Sierr...a..."

"You're welcome...Rinoa..." I replied, tears starting to well up in my eyes. Gradually, her face became peaceful, her hand went limp in mine, and she stopped breathing. I laid her down on the floor softly, folding her hands on her chest.

I began to sob, wiping my face with what was left of my sleeves, when I heard banging against the sealed door, and faint voices yelling behind it.

"Try to pry it open!!" Selphie's shrill voice cried.

"No good!!" Zell's voice yelled back.

"Let me-!!" Squall yelled above everyone else, panic evident in his voice. There was a series of clangs of a gunblade on the door and all of a sudden...

"Yes!!" I heard Irvine's voice cry a little more clearly. "Now pry it open!! Push!"

The door slid open little by little as everyone shoved and heaved. Squall was the first to enter. "Rinoa!! RINOA!!"

"Over here," I said, not quite as loud as I should have been when calling for help.

Squall came running, and the look on his face was just too painful to bear when he saw her lying dead on the floor that I had to look away. "I'm sorry..." I said quietly.

"You...!!" he cried. I turned to face him. He was staring at me in complete and utter rage. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!" he screamed at me, throwing his gunblade down on the floor and propping Rinoa up in his arms like I had previously done. He glared at me with malice and disgust.

"W-What??" I exclaimed, horrorified.

"You took her life away!!" he yelled at me. "You took her powers!! If you hadn't, we might have been able to save her!!! YOU KILLED HER!!!" He stood with Rinoa's body in his arms. He spat on the floor in front of me. "You're a murderer. I hope you're happy...sorceress." He then walked to the door, where I heard gasps and stifled sobs.

I huddled up against the wall and cried into my knees. My head ached so but I didn't care. I cried harder than I ever had in my life, ignoring the pain in my head that was beginning to grow tremendously. He hated me. Squall blamed me for killing Rinoa.

I got so tired, and my head was splitting, but I continued crying. He hated me. So did Seifer, and if everyone else went along with Squall...What was I going to do? They hated me...

The pain in my head was overwhelming, and the last thing I saw was Irvine looking around frantically in the smoke. I reached out for him, for help, but all of a sudden I dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6: Grief

When I awoke I had no idea where I was. My eyes felt heavy and it was a strain just to open them. When I did I saw Quistis sitting alone by my bedside. I struggled to sit up.

"Don't try to move much," Quistis said without any particular emotion as I looked around the high-tech hospital room. "The nanites are still at work trying to repair the damages. You've been out for nearly 3 days."

"What happened?" I said, holding my head in my hand.

"We were at Dr. Kurai's laboratory on the outskirts of Esthar," Quistis reminded me. She was speaking quietly and sorrowfully.

"The explosion..." I whispered, my memory starting to return.

"So you remember," she said, looking at me with stern eyes. "Then perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me why you were after Rinoa's powers?"

"Quistis, you don't think I took her powers and killed her on purpose?!" I cried. "Rinoa was my friend! I wouldn't do anything to purposely hurt her!! Please believe me!!"

"There's a lot of speculation around you right now," Quistis replied, turning her gaze away. "No one knows if they can trust you anymore..."

I buried my face in my hands. "Squall hates me...everyone hates me...I didn't do it on purpose and no one will...will believe me..." I started to cry again.

"We just need proof," Quistis told me, in some odd way trying to console me. "We could start by you telling me the whole story..."

"She knew it was going to happen," I stated bluntly, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. "I don't know how she knew, and she didn't tell me much anything at all, but she asked me that if anything happened to her while we were here that I'd take her powers." My eyes filled with tears again. "She made me promise."

"Wait a minute, start from the beginning," Quistis said, suddenly interested. "What exactly did she tell you?"

So I told her everything I knew, starting with my date with Seifer, leading to how I asked to talk to her in my dorm after classes to see if she was alright, right up to everything that had happened today, and why she wanted me to stay by her side instead of Squall.

"She told me a few things before I took her powers, too," I said, more to myself than to Quistis because this was the first chance I had to actually analyze it. "She told me to stay close to Squall, for one thing, like she had told me in my dorm, though I don't know how possible that will be now." I looked down sorrowfully.

"If you're not to blame, then Squall will get over it, in time," she replied. "Did she say anything else?"

"She said she was sorry that she didn't actually tell anyone that she knew. She said something like they'd take her by force if she had said so," I said, thinking back.

"Well, if she did know, it was most likely some kind of effect of her sorceress powers, which would mean that she would have been taken into custody by force and had her powers removed another, more inhumane way if need be," Quistis said. "It's law that sorceresses are not allowed to use their powers unless in dire, life-shattering emergencies."

It finally dawned on me what exactly Rinoa was trying to tell me. "She told me the whole thing was a staged sham," I said, my thoughts speaking aloud. "And that Dr. Kurai wants to be the only sorceress."

"What??" Quistis said, shocked. "But you realize what that must mean, don't you? If Rinoa foresaw her own demise like this, then she must've also seen what kind of destruction would become of the world if Dr. Kurai got her hands on Rinoa's powers!"

"Dr. Kurai's plan must've been to blow up the tank and make it look like an accident!" I cried, thinking on the same wavelength as Quistis now. "That's why she told me to keep behind her during the procedure! She must've wanted to have been caught in the blast so it looked like she had no idea it would happen, and by being in the same room with her, she'd be able to get to Rinoa first and take her powers!"

"But she didn't expect anyone else to be in the same room during the procedure!" Quistis filled in. "That's why she seemed so annoyed when Rinoa requested that you stay with her, and why Rinoa was so insistent!" Her face suddenly went pale. "We've got to restrain Dr. Kurai before she heals enough to make an escape!" Before I could protest, Quistis stood up and bolted out the sliding door.

I sat alone in my bed with my thoughts. So, the whole power extraction was a sham, just so Dr. Kurai could harness the powers for herself. Rinoa had foreseen this whole fiasco and done everything within her power without resorting to being a sorceress to foil Dr. Kurai's plans. At least that part was clear to me now. But it still wasn't clear to me why Rinoa wanted me to stay away from Seifer. It just didn't make any sense.

It was then that Selphie came bursting into the room, with Zell and Irvine hot on her heels. "Sierra, I knew you weren't possibly capable of such an atrocious act!!" she cried, wrapping her arms around me. "Quistis just told us the whole story, abridged, but still, whole story!!"

"She's gone with the police who were waiting outside to try and corner Dr. Kurai while she's still recovering," Zell explained. "Hopefully she hasn't already upped and left."

"Where's Squall?" I asked, hoping that this would clear my name with him as well.

Selphie and Irvine exchanged glances, and Zell shoved his hands into his pockets. "He's taking this whole thing really hard," Selphie said sorrowfully. "He's visiting her grave."

"I...see..." I said. I couldn't expect them to wait for me to revive so they could bury Rinoa, especially since they had all thought I was guilty. And I couldn't expect Squall to just accept what had happened. After all, Rinoa and Squall seemed like they were extremely close. Him being her knight probably didn't help things much. "He's really angry with me...I don't blame him, for what everybody assumed...the situation must have looked really bad from your standpoint."

"When he hears that it's not your fault, he'll come around, don't worry," Zell told me, sitting on the end of my bed. "He's just going to need some time to adjust, that's all."

"I think everyone is," I replied, looking down at my hands. "I was friends with Rinoa too, you know. It was really hard for me to promise to do something like that."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Suddenly the doors slid open and Quistis rushed in, panting. "Dr. Kurai's gone, just like I suspected," she told us all, catching her breath. "The doctors said that she didn't check out, so she must've had a getaway mapped out in case a wrench like this was thrown into her plans. Every police unit in Esthar is on the lookout for her."

Selphie gasped with her hands up to her mouth. Irvine wrapped his arms around her and Zell punched my mattress, barely missing my foot. "Damn!" he cried. "There's got to be more we can do than just sit around here and wait! We've got to do a search of our own! That bitch, she murdered Rinoa!!"

"We can't," Quistis said rationally, sitting on the end of my bed with Zell. "If we do, it'll look bad against garden, and we don't want that, especially with rumors that there's a new sorceress flying around. We can't avoid such information leaking out now, and when people get wind of it, they're going to be afraid. Fear causes people to do some crazy things, and if there's suspicious activity around Balamb Garden, the general public is automatically going to think of another sorceress hunt and start taking some unreasonable and perhaps even dangerous actions."

"So what do we do?" Selphie cried, snuggled up to Irvine.

"All we can do now is to try to keep this under wraps as best as possible until we get further word from the headmaster," Quistis replied calmly. "As soon as possible, we're going to have a briefing with Laguna and head back to garden for further instructions. Nobody breathe a word of this to anyone else until notified, understand?"

Everyone nodded, but I just kept my head lowered as Quistis' words began to sink in. "What's going to happen to me?" I finally ventured to ask. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on me.

"What do you mean?" Quistis asked, sounding concerned.

"I mean, my life is going to be really different from now on, right?" I said, looking up shyly. I was really scared. "Being a sorceress is a huge responsibility, and to boot, I'm still attending school, ironically, to learn how to defeat myself! Am I just supposed to go on with life as if everything is still normal?"

"Like I said, we wait until further instructions from the headmaster," Quistis assured me. "But as of right now, protecting you is our main priority, considering that you don't exactly have a knight of sorts."

"That's another thing," I said with a sigh. "Both former sorceress' knights are currently out of reach for me. Rinoa told me to stay away from Seifer and stay close to Squall, but Squall looks at me as if I'm evil incarnate itself! You all say that he'll get over it in time, but what if he doesn't trust me ever again? Where do I stand then?"

"Hey, I could always be your knight!" Zell cried. Everyone else laughed.

I cracked a smile at him. "Sorry Zell, baby, you're just not my type." The laughter roared louder, Zell joining in with a hand behind his head.

"Don't worry Sierra," Irvine assured me. "Everything will turn out all right. If need be, Laguna will send out Esthar's military and they'll track down this Dr. Kurai and everything will settle down once more. Then you'll become a full-fledged SeeD and be able to lead a normal life under the best sorceress protection in the world."

"I hope so," I replied, looking out the large window at the right side of the room. "But I don't know how that will happen if I'm spending all this time in bed."

(chapter start)

I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping to let the nanites finish up their work, and when the nurse woke me up in the process of removing them from my system, no one was there. I wondered where everybody was. I couldn't just stick around the hospital and wait for them to come back and pick me up. And I wanted to know what was going on.

"Your friends left your bag on the chair for you, for when you were ready to get out of bed," the young nurse told me when she was finished, pointing to a chair in the corner on which my small backpack was sitting. "One of them is in the cafeteria on ground level if you'd like to get out of this cramped old room." She smiled kindly.

"Thank you," I replied as she turned to leave. I got out of bed and started rummaging through my clothes, just now remembering that my favorite outfit was in shreds. 'If things keep going like this I won't have any clothes left,' I thought as I pulled my jeans and Chocobo T-shirt out of my bag. I changed quickly so I could get down to the cafeteria and see what was happening.

As I walked the halls of Esthar Memorial Hospital, back pack slung over my shoulder, I noticed that the usual hospital smell didn't exist in this building. "I guess they must use nanites for everything here," I said aloud to myself as I looked around. It didn't look like a typical hospital either, more like some kind of scientific research facility. "What a day and age we live in."

I took the elevator to what I supposed would be the equivalent of ground level, considering that I had never seen a road even remotely close to the ground yet. But the main entrance was on the same floor, so I guessed I was headed in the right direction. I still had to ask directions along the way, but I found the cafeteria soon enough. I needed some companionship right about now.

I scanned the upbeat, foreign-looking cafeteria for any familiar face. I was particularly hoping it was Selphie, because I could use with some optimism right now. But low and behold, who was sitting at a table near the back wall none other than Squall himself.

I sulked as I headed over to him. Had he realized yet that Rinoa's death was not my fault? Would he forgive me?

"Hi Squall," I said rather timidly as I sat down across from him at the almost retro-looking white table and set my back pack down next to me.

"Hello." He mumbled it, like he didn't want to have to acknowledge my existence.

"Where is everybody?" I asked, trying to get him to talk to me about something, anything.

"They're not here, obviously," he said, blatantly showing that he had nothing more that he wanted to say to me.

"I asked WHERE they were, not if they were here or not," I couldn't help but snap back at him.

He glared back at me. "All you have to know is that they are talking with the president about finding this Dr. Kurai and protecting you. Sorceress." He spat the last word at me like venom in the back of his throat.

That venom hit home, and I felt suddenly withdrawn. "Don't feel like you have to protect me," I said quietly, still trying to gain the upper hand in the argument. "It's not like I PLANNED this." I dragged out the second last word, looking away, trying to strike a chord like his did.

I could practically hear him grinding his teeth. "We'll see what Cid says first, okay?" he said, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Why do you still blame me?!" I finally exploded, whipping around to face him. "I didn't WANT this to happen, Squall! Rinoa was a friend to me, a good friend in the small amount of time that we knew each other, and as a good friend she made me promise something! She made me promise, Squall! Do you know what kind of position that puts me in?! To fulfill the promise of a friend who KNEW she was going to die?!" I was overcome with emotion and didn't notice that I was making quite a spectacle.

Squall didn't do any better. "Then why didn't you try to prevent it?!" He stood and shouted in my face. "Why didn't you try to do anything before it was too late?! But you're more power-hungry than you look, Sierra, I'll give you that! You've got to have a real poker-face if you're going to be conniving the way you are!"

"Power-hungry-?! Conniving-?!" I shrieked. "Did it ever occur to you that I didn't know anything more than you did?! Besides, you were the closest person to Rinoa above anyone else! Why didn't you spend more time trying to comfort her when she was so obviously distraught instead of waiting in The Quad late at night for ME to come by?!"

Squall didn't have a moment to reply. "Sir, Miss, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave," an elderly doctor with a partially gray, partially white beard wearing a lab coat said sternly as he approached us at our table. We both turned towards him. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment right there. "I am the head of the board here, and I'm aware that you are in the middle of a conflict but there are patients in this hospital, and for the sake and well-being of both them, and all the staff here, I must insist that you solve your dispute elsewhere. Otherwise, I will have you thrown out." He gazed at us very intently.

"We apologize," Squall told him before I could get a sound out of my mouth. It was all I could do not to glare at him. "We'll leave immediately. I'm sorry for any trouble we may have caused." I picked up my back pack, but before I could hang it on my shoulder Squall grabbed me rather tightly by the upper arm and told me harshly, "Let's go."

When we got outside the main entrance, I yanked my arm free of his grasp and cried, "Don't ever speak for me again! I'm not a child that you have to discipline and pull around by the wrist!" He began walking away with his back turned to me. "Where do you think you're going?!" I yelled, scurrying after him.

"I'm going to find everyone else, with or without you," he told me, annoyed. "It's my job to protect you, because if I don't, I don't get paid. But right now, I'm not in a position to care. If you want to go off on your own, fine. I won't hold your bloody little hand and make sure you don't get lost. But remember, if you're not there when the Ragnarok is ready to leave, I won't wait for you, no matter what my orders are. Selphie's not the only one who can pilot it, you know."

I desperately wanted to protest against that, but I decided to keep my mouth shut as I followed Squall dejectedly along the elevated street. We stopped at the mouth of a huge, long tube with a kind of seat hovering a little ways above the 'roadway'. I remembered him telling me something about these, and though I was ecstatic when Squall went to sit on it, I dared not show it. I was so mad at him right now I was wishing I had the guts to just wander off and get him in trouble with the Headmaster for not keeping an eye on me. I don't even know why I was that angry to begin with. It hadn't been that long since it all happened. Maybe Squall just needed more time to get over the fact that I wasn't responsible.

The seat took off, whisking us through the tube. It was a fantastically fun ride, and I couldn't help smiling at the view of the passing city. It was just so big. I couldn't begin to fathom how many people could possibly live and work in this place. For a moment, I forgot all my troubles in the blur of buildings and the sun setting on the horizon. It was absolutely breathtaking, the whole metropolis silhouetted against the sky that was glowing lavender, orange and pink.

Squall didn't say anything as we sped through the tube on the seat. I wanted to say something, anything, just to get rid of the silence between the both of us. But there was nothing I could possibly say that wouldn't make him even more angry at me. I thought up numerous short speeches, but when I scanned them for anything that could make Squall even more sour with me I had to scratch each and every one.

We finally arrived at our destination, which I assumed to be where President Laguna held office. Squall led the way from the tunnel-seat port to a kind of waiting room with a few couches. Already, as I looked around, the place looked more like a palace than a political building. Squall paced the floor, and looked up expectantly as another person dressed in those odd robes entered.

"May I help you?" he asked, adjusting the matching hat on his head.

"I need to see the President immediately," Squall told him, rather rushed. He was more uptight about all this than he wanted to let on.

"I'm sorry, but the President is in a meeting of utmost privacy right now-"the man began.

Squall marched up to the guy and got right up in his face. "Listen to me very carefully," he told the man harshly. "Tell him that the SORCERESS..." He glanced very meaningfully to me then back, "...and her temporary bodyguard are here to see him and his other meeting members. Immediately."

'What??' I thought suspiciously.

"Y-yes sir," the robed man replied, nearly stumbling out of the waiting room.

"What do you mean, TEMPORARY?" I asked Squall as soon as the bureaucrat messenger was around the corner and out of earshot.

He whirled around to face me. "It means that when we get back to garden, I never want to see your face again unless we pass each other in the hallway," he told me angrily.

"But...but why??" I cried. "You must know by now that I had no intention at all for this to happen!!"

"It's your word against Dr. Kurai's, when they find her," Squall spat at me. "So until then, I hold you solely responsible for Rinoa's death!"

I couldn't do anything but stand there for a moment, gaping at him. The words finally clicked, and my eyes started to water. I turned around so he couldn't see my tears. I marched over to the couch, but instead of sitting down, I hid behind it. I didn't want to face him now. He was being so hurtful and he didn't believe me in the least. What kind of villain did he take me for? And what kind of villain was he to not even give me a fighting chance to defend myself against his accusations?

Not more than a second later, I heard a barrage of footsteps pile into the waiting room, voices chattering lowly to one another. "Squall!" I heard Quistis exclaim. "What's going on? Where's Sierra? You're supposed to be watching over her!"

"Don't worry, I'm doing MY job." I heard him reply bluntly. I could just picture him pointing a thumb over his shoulder towards the couch behind which I now cowered.

"What's going on exactly?" Zell's voice inquired next.

"Nothing," Squall replied. "And if you'll excuse me, I've got no business here now that you're all present." His footsteps seemed to echo in the back of my mind until the sliding door muffled them and they strode out of earshot. People started talking amongst themselves once more.

Selphie peeked around the corner of the couch. "Hey Sierra? Everything okay?" she asked quietly. "Why are you hiding out here?"

I couldn't tell her what had just happened. I didn't want to dirty Squall's name in front of his friends. "Nothing Selphie. I...I just got scared all of a sudden. This is going to be hard for me to accept." I heard the background noise of Laguna and the others discussing something, but at this point I was in such a state of depression that I was too tired to care what it was.

"Of course it is," she told me softly, sitting next to me on the floor and putting her arm around my shoulder. "But we're going to be here for you through the whole thing, don't worry. No government can take action against you as long as you reside within garden, so you're perfectly safe."

"It's your job to keep me under wraps," I said. "It's your responsibility to make sure that I don't go out of control and that no harm comes to me. It's your duty as SeeDs to be by my side and keep me under surveillance at all times."

"You think that's why we're here??" Selphie cried. "Sierra, you're more to all of us than just a sorceress! You're our friend! If Rinoa trusted you with something so important, then the rest of us trust you too. Even if some may not show it yet." I looked up at her and she smiled that smile that could make even the Tooth Fairy jealous.

"You mean that, Selphie? Everyone?" I asked her hopefully.

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed, inching in a bit closer. "Look, I know what the trouble is, you don't have to say it. But Squall...well, he's the type to get attached to people close to him. And to lose someone as important to him as Rinoa, it's got to be driving him out of his mind to have to look after another sorceress so soon. It's like having your dog get run over by a truck, then having someone hand you a puppy five minutes later. He'll get over it and watch out for you in time, but in the meantime you should probably try to lay low around him. If you wait long enough, he'll come to you. I promise."

"If you say so, Selphie." I sighed dejectedly, staring at the floor again. "He's just so angry with me. No one in my entire life has ever been so mean to me. I mean, under the circumstances, I understand. But it's the fact that he holds me responsible for Rinoa's death and accuses me of stealing her powers for myself that bothers me more than anything. He was so nice to me before....before..." I couldn't take it anymore and buried my face in my hands, sobbing uncontrollably. I felt Selphie pull me close, but I pushed away and wiped my eyes with the back of my hands.

"No," I told her, clasping my hands together in my lap. "I've got to stop being such a chicken-wuss about all this. I'll wait and see what happens. He's got to have time, and I'll give it to him." I looked at her. "Selphie, can you please make sure that Squall isn't assigned to look after me anymore? I don't feel any different than I did before I got the powers, so I don't think I'll need anyone to look after me, period."

"Well..." she hesitated. "I suppose so. But you've got to promise me that if anything weird starts happening, you'll come to me or one of the others."

"I will, I promise," I replied. "Right now, I'd just like to get out of here and go back to garden."

"Don't you mean, 'go home'?'" Selphie asked.

"Yes, home," I said, blankly staring at the floor. "I want to go home."


	7. Chapter 7: Anguish

The ride back to garden was just as quick as it had been coming from it to Esthar, and President Laguna had made up his mind to return with us.

"Don't worry, Kiros and Ward will take care of everything in my absence," he told us all with a wave of his hand as we sped back to Balamb. "Besides, I need a change of pace. Esthar's not big enough for me anymore." He chuckled nervously. "Actually I've been thinking about resigning."

"Laguna, you know there's no one else who could fill you position as ruler of Esthar," Quistis told him, smiling. "No one would be able to fit the job description for procrastination as much as you do."

Laguna laughed. "I guess you're right. Kiros and Ward would probably make sure I couldn't use my legs again if I quit, anyway."

I just stood there, gazing out the window as everyone else did, while Selphie piloted our way back to garden. I had always hated uncertainty, the fear of the unknown. And right now just about everything had some amount of uncertainty to it. I tried to keep my mind a blank as the Ragnarok hovered over Balamb Garden, preparing to dock.

I tore my gaze away from the window at that moment and took the time to look around at everyone. Selphie was in the pilot's seat with Irvine by her side, Quistis and Laguna were still chatting away, Zell was crouched down in another corner, and Squall...was nowhere to be seen. I sighed heavily.

'Well,' I thought to myself. 'At least I won't have to make an effort to avoid him.'

"Oh man," Zell sighed all of a sudden from his squatting position in the corner.

I looked at him and blinked. "What's the matter Zell?"

"It's been DAYS since I've had a hot dog!" he exclaimed.

I really couldn't help but giggle. Here was this big, huge, serious situation at hand and all Zell could think about was hot dogs. I walked over to him and squat down as well.

"I think I'll just go scurry off to my dorm for a while," I said. "I'm a bit tired from all of this."

"I know the cafeteria's going to be the first thing I'll race for when we touch ground," he told me with a boyish grin. "There's something special to me about those wiener-shaped entrails of other animals sitting in a bun with tomato-flavored goo smeared on top of 'em."

"What a...er...um...pleasant way to describe them," I replied, chuckling nervously. "Just long as it doesn't ruin your appetite."

"NOTHING could ruin my appetite for hot dogs," he said quite seriously. He turned to me and grinned again. "Going to be in your room for a while?"

"Yeah, I think," I told him.

"Well, I'm going to drop by later, so be forewarned, okay?" he said, almost with a maniacal tone in his voice. "Who knows? I may even bring a surprise with me!"

"I think I've had all the surprises I can take lately, Zell," I told him sadly. "This 'field trip' has been almost a bit too much for me to swallow."

"I know, I know," he said sympathetically. "You've been through a lot in the past couple of days. But you do need to start smiling again sometime, right? No time like the present!"

"But Zell-"I started to protest.

"No buts!" he cried back at me, shaking a finger in my face. "I'll come by your room no later than 6:00, so be ready, all right?"

"Be ready for what?" I asked. But Zell had already stood up and made way for the cockpit door.

"Just be ready!" he called over his shoulder, and disappeared down the elevator after everyone else.

I sat alone in the corner of the Ragnarok's cockpit for a moment. A surprise huh? If it was either Squall or Seifer or both I pictured myself punching Zell in the face for being so insensitive right now. But it was nice of him to want to get me back on the right track. I did have to get my mind off of all this or I was never going to become a SeeD. I soon made my way over to the elevator as well to exit the Ragnarok through the cargo bay and get to my dorm. I looked around before I started down the ramp to make sure no one was left behind.

I walked down the ramp outside, shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight. It was just past noon and I wanted to spend the rest of this gorgeous day indoors? I must have been crazy to waste such a perfect day! What did I have to lose by frolicking in the sun for a few hours? So, against my better judgment I made my way down to the sandy beach. Surprisingly, no one else was out to enjoy the sand and sun from either garden or the town of Balamb, so I tied the front of my shirt in a knot to make it shorter and slid off my jeans, folding them neatly on the grass. I pulled off my socks and shoes and lay down on the fine-grained sand in my knotted chocobo t-shirt and panties. Why relax in bed when you could do it on a perfectly deserted beach?

'This could very well be the last chance I get to enjoy freedom,' I thought to myself. 'From now on I'm going to be watched really closely and no one's going to leave me alone, at least for a long while. I just hope no one gets mad at me for being out here all by myself. After all, someone should be ordered to watch out for me while I go outdoors.'

I sighed heavily. I was hoping everyone would understand. I couldn't imagine anyone else wanting to be cooped up like a bird in a cage. I shook my head and stood up. I started walking towards the water. A swim was just what I needed right now.

I waded out to my waist, then plunged in. When I surfaced, I took a deep, cleansing breath. It was the first time since the trip to Esthar that I felt alive. I had fresh air in my lungs, water all around me, and the sun beaming down on me from above. I smiled and let myself float for a moment, the current carrying me. I rocked back and forth on the waves for a little while, enjoying the motion and the lulling effect it had on my consciousness. I was so relaxed. I felt like sleeping.

But no, it was silly to fall asleep in the ocean. I got upright in the water, and gazed back towards shore. It was far away. How did I let myself drift out so far? I started swimming, kicking with all my might to get back to the beach. At first it seemed I was making progress, but after a while my legs started to ache and cramp. I cried out for help, but even if there were people on the beach, I was sure they wouldn't be able to hear me.

How did I manage to get into such a mess my first HOUR back at Balamb? Maybe I just had a knack for getting into trouble. But the only problem with that was, Squall was the only one so far who had a knack for getting me out of it, and I had basically told him where to go and how to get there, so he wasn't around. In fact, for the long and short of it, he told me that he didn't want to be and never would.

I began to feel despair tugging at the seams of my heart. Just thinking about not having Squall involved in my life made my eyes sting with tears. I knew I should probably try to stay hydrated if I was going to be drifting out on the ocean for a time, but I didn't care. Squall meant so much to me, even if he was pushing me away, and he didn't want to have anything to do with me. Now because of that, my end was pretty much upon me.

"Well Squall, you've got your justice for Rinoa's death, in your eyes at least," I said aloud, tears spilling down my face and mixing with the salt water already there from the churning water around me. "I just hope you'll believe the truth one day and not hate me so much in death as you have these last few days. I just wish I had the chance to say good-bye to you...to everyone..."

I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sky. I wanted to enjoy the sun on my face once more before I started to completely panic.

And that's when I heard it. Faint, but still barely audible over the rush of the waves. Someone was calling my name! I opened my eyes suddenly and saw a guy swimming towards me. I stuck my right arm out of the water and waved frantically.

"Here!! I'm over here!!!" I cried as loud as I could. I tried to pick out who it was, but he was still too far away.

Suddenly, a wave washed over me and I was submerged under the water. I choked on the salty liquid, and I tried to kick to the surface but my left calf started to cramp. I tried not to cry out in pain since I knew I was still underwater, and kicked with my right leg.

I broke the surface and spit the water out of my mouth, gulping in fresh air. I looked around frantically. As I bobbed up and down on the waves my vision was now greatly impaired because saltwater was in my eyes. I turned towards shore and saw that guy still swimming towards me, but I couldn't make him out because my vision was so blurred. Another wave washed over me, and I got another mouthful of seawater.

I couldn't kick to the surface. Both my legs were so cramped that I couldn't move. I tried to hold my breath for as long as I could but it was no use. My mind began to get hazy. I lost that last mouthful of air and watched helplessly as it bubbled to the surface above before I blacked out.

"Breathe!"

It was far away. Faint, yet frantic and commanding. I was sleepy.

"Come on, breathe!"

Closer, louder. What was going on?

"Sierra, open your eyes! Breathe!!"

My eyes popped open and I tried to inhale. I started choking on the salty water in my lungs, and I turned onto my side and started coughing, hacking deeply and spitting it out. It stung, and I couldn't stop coughing for a good few minutes. I felt a hand on my shoulder, the grip firm and sincere. Could it be? Squall? I tried to sit up, still coughing.

"What a relief!" cried the same voice who had commanded me to start breathing again. "You stopped breathing for five minutes! I was afraid I was too late!"

I wiped my eyes from the salty liquid and blinked. I recognized that voice. Again I tried to clear my eyes, and finally they watered on their own, cleaning them out. I blinked once more and gazed upon my savior.

"Seifer??" I said, surprised. "How did you know I was out here? Were you...you weren't WATCHING me, were you?"

"No!" he cried, taking it into offence. "I was on an errand for Cid in Balamb since all the other 'top SeeDs' were out on a job." He said this with some amount of annoyance. "I was coming back to garden when I saw you bobbing like a cork on the water."

I put and hand to my forehead, then started looking around for my jeans. "Where's my pants?" I asked, still feeling somewhat disoriented.

"Up on the grass over that way," he told me, pointing a thumb down the beach. "What about the rest of your clothes? Where's your shirt?"

I snapped back to attention and looked down. I was only in my black bra and panties. Quickly I made to cover myself, my face turning red. "Seifer, please get me my pants and shoes!" I cried, convinced I would die of embarrassment. "And can I please borrow your coat? My shirt must've come off in the water."

He smirked. "Yeah, alright then sorceress." I was going to protest to that, but he stood up, and that's when I noticed that he was only wearing his pants, nothing more. I blushed even more, were it possible, then turned away. He started off on the grass to where my jeans lay. Being nearly stark naked on a beach with Seifer Almasy could cause some rumors. But his chest was void of most any body hair, and his abs just made me want to run down the beach after him and pounce like a wildcat on her unsuspecting and very hot prey...

"Here," he very nearly grumbled, tossing his long coat on top of my head, then doing the same with my jeans. I think I may have socked him one if he threw my shoes at me, but he just sat down next to me and laid them at my feet, socks stuffed inside them.

"Sorry it was me and not Squall," he said almost as soon as his firm butt hit the sand beside me. He pulled on his t-shirt as I did my pants.

"Why do you say that?" I asked as I buttoned my jeans and started pulling on my socks. I growled lowly, pulled it off again and dumped out the sand that was inside it.

"Because I know you like him more than you like me," he said, gazing out over the water. "I just wish you had said that was why when you told me that we shouldn't see each other again."

I turned my gaze towards the ocean as well. "There's a lot on my mind right now," I said with a sigh. "I mean, I like you just fine, but...well..."

"Well what?" he asked. "I think this is a sign that we should be together. You're a sorceress, and you need a knight to protect you. If Squall isn't around, then that leaves you open to attacks from the common public. It isn't right for you just to be prancing around on a beach in your underwear. You could get hurt."

"I told you, my t-shirt came off in the water!" I exclaimed, glaring at him.

He grinned. "Whatever you say, Sierra. But anyway, shouldn't you be at garden? You just came back from your field trip, aren't you getting some rest?"

"I thought it was a waste to spend the whole rest of the day indoors," I said mournfully. "I just have to be back for 6:00 cuz Zell is stopping by my dorm."

"You're after chicken-wuss now??" he asked in disbelief. "Gee, pretty soon you'll have to resort dating the rest of the student body, huh?"

"No Seifer, it's nothing like that!" I cried. "He's just trying to make me feel better. I...I'm not with anyone right now."

"Like I said, it's a sign that we should be with each other!" he told me, a very determined look on his face. "I'm not leaving you alone until you say you want me for your knight."

"Seifer...I...I don't know about this..." I stammered as I pulled his coat tight around my neck. What was I supposed to say? Rinoa told me to stay away from him, but he was so persistent, so sincere, so downright worried about me that I was dying to say yes.

"Listen, you need nothing short of a bodyguard these days, right? If I could protect garden's sorceress, maybe I could finally become a SeeD!"

What?? "Oh, so that's it," I said sourly. "You want to use me as your final exam, do you?" I tried to scramble to my feet in the sand.

"Huh? Wait, no, that's not exactly why I-"he started.

I towered over him. "Well Seifer, thank you for saving my life, but don't think that you have to start making a habit of it!" And with that, I stormed back in the direction of Balamb Garden, feeling the weight of the heavy, gray coat on my shoulders.

"Sierra, wait-!" he cried, trying to run after me. "Oh shit, my clothes-"

I stalked the whole way back to garden and managed to get to my dorm before Seifer had a chance to catch up to me.

I was still fuming as I went to my bedroom to change. He wanted to use me! I threw his stupid coat on the floor as I rummaged around in my dresser for clothes. On top of everything else, I lost my favorite t-shirt second to my black and red outfit; so one item came off of me when I was drowning and the others got blown to bits. I pulled on a red sweater and found a pair of tighter black pants that I hardly ever wore just because they clung to me so, and pulled them on. I made up my mind to go clothes shopping sometime soon, perhaps even try to get to my favorite thrift store back home in Dollet and see some of my other friends. There was a lot I had to say nowadays.

Then there was a knock at my door. I turned my gaze to my bedside clock. It was only 3:00. Zell wasn't supposed to come by for another 3 hours. I undid the latch on my door and opened it a crack to behold 3 female students and 2 males, all wearing school uniforms, with their arms crossed and looking very angry indeed.

"Uhm...hello, may I help you with anything?" I asked them politely. 'What could these people possibly want with me?' I thought to myself.

"Are you the new sorceress?" one of the girls asked me rather bluntly. She had brown hair that was a smidgeon lighter than my own and she was wearing a yellow ribbon to compliment it.

"Y...yes, I am," I told her. I was getting kind of scared now.

"What happened in Esthar?" one of the boys demanded of me. He was black-haired and looked to be no more than 2 years younger than myself, yet he seemed to tower over me as if I was the smallest creature on the planet. "Tell us!"

"I...I can't reveal any classified information," I stated simply. I knew that would be what everyone else would tell me to do in this situation. "I'm not allowed."

"Liar!" the yellow-ribbon girl cried, pointing a finger at me. "We saw you come in just now, with Seifer Almasy's coat on, might I add! You didn't even get orders from the headmaster yet, so tell us right now! What the hell's going on?!"

"That's enough!" came a voice from behind the gaggle of students in front of me. I edged to the side to see through them.

"It's...it's Squall!!" squealed one of the other girls, a blonde, her eyes just lighting up at the sight of him.

'Oh no,' I thought.

"You all run along now. I believe you have something better to do than harassing our newest student?" He glowered at each and every one of them in turn.

"I'm sorry Squall! It'll never happen again! I promise!!" the blonde girl cried. I could swear that I could see actual stars in her eyes. "Absolutely, positively anything you say!!"

"Geri, we're not supposed to just give up like that!" I heard the ribbon girl whisper harshly to the blonde.

"But...but it's SQUALL..." Geri whimpered back, "...and he said..."

"I SAID, move along," Squall prompted them all, "or I'll inform your instructors of your skipping class."

"He's right Kim, let's go," the black-haired boy said. He turned to leave and the other girl and boy followed.

"Ohhh...! Don't you think this is over, sorceress!" Kim stuck out her tongue at me, then spun on her heel and stalked off with the rest of them.

I sighed heavily and hung my head. "So the first attack is a verbal one," I said aloud. I looked up at Squall. "Why are you here? I thought you held me responsible for this whole mess."

"I do," he replied coldly. "I came by to tell you to stay away from Seifer, or else."

"What??" I cried, feeling anger bubble up inside me again. "How did you know I had seen him just now?"

"You were wearing his coat when you came in," Squall pointed out. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"For your information, you FATHEAD," I spat, "I nearly drowned and Seifer dove in to save me. I lost my shirt so he leant me his coat so I wouldn't have to traipse back in here without anything to cover myself. Besides, as if it's any of your business, I found out he was going to use protecting me as his SeeD exam, so I'm not really on the best of terms with him now. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"He wants to do what?!" Squall cried. "I'll get him before he even has a chance to make an appointment with Cid!!" He started dashing off down the hallway.

"Wait, Squall!!" I called after him. He stopped in his tracks. "Come back, I need to talk to you first!"

He turned around. "I can hear you just fine from down here," he called back. "What do you want?"

"Why did you protect me from them just now?" I asked desperately. "If you hate me so much, why go out of your way to keep me safe from harm?"

The slight pause seemed to last a bloody eternity. "Rinoa would want me to do the right thing," he replied simply. He then continued off down the hallway to Cid's office.

I went back into my apartment and closed the door behind me. I didn't bother locking it because I just didn't care about a lot all of a sudden. Words couldn't possibly describe how awful I felt at that moment. I lay on my couch, expecting myself to cry, but I couldn't do it. This was beyond tears. This was an encompassing sorrow that I'd never experienced before. This was something so utterly confusing and heart-wrenching that I was sure nothing could cheer me up.

I closed my eyes. Time would pass quicker if I slept. But I was worried about the nightmares I might have if I did. I decided to chance that, because rest was completely out of the question now. I would never be able to rest peacefully until this whole mess was finally resolved. I thought about Seifer, and how he was really pushing to be my knight. I thought about Squall, and how he was still looking out for me on the whole, though he hated my guts. I thought about Rinoa, and how scared she must've felt when she knew her death was upon her. I missed her. I missed her smile, I missed her company, I missed her counsel. If I felt like this, I could only imagine what Squall must feel...only imagine how much he must hate me...


	8. Chapter 8: Taking Heed

I awoke with a start to the knocking on my door. "6:00 already?" I muttered groggily to myself. I sat up on the couch and stretched. I hadn't had any nightmares whatsoever. It hadn't been a very refreshing nap, but it was un-tortured nonetheless. The knock at the door came again.

"Alright, I'm coming!" I cried in the middle of a yawn. I stood up and pulled open the door.

"Hey!" Zell said with that same boyish grin on his face. "Is Squall here? I was hoping I was interrupting something!"

"You wish," I said, letting out another yawn. "No, I was taking a nap."

"Darn," he said jokingly. "Oh well. Anyway, put on a pair of shoes or something, let's go."

"Go? Go where?" I asked, confused.

"To get your surprise, of course! Well, part of it, anyway," he said, smiling.

"Well, ok," I replied, sliding on my black shoes by the door. I grabbed my room key and closed the locked door behind me. We started walking.

"What's everybody else up to?" I asked.

"Well, Quistis and Laguna have been meeting with Cid since we came back," Zell replied, thinking. "Selphie's attending to something to do with the next graduation, and Irvine's practicing his sharp shooting in the training gallery. As for Mr. Knight, I have no idea where he is."

"Zell, Squall is not my knight. Everyone knows that he can't stand to be around me," I said sadly.

"Then why didn't he protest when I told him I was going to give you this?" Zell replied, as he pulled a silver ring with the head of a lion on it out of his pocket. He held it in front of my face. "This ring is very important to him. Rinoa wore it all the time, on a chain around her neck. I was supposed to make her a copy of it, but she ended up keeping the original."

"Why didn't he take it back?" I asked, being thrown for another loop in this crazy scenario. "Doesn't he want something to remember her by?"

"I don't know," Zell replied. "Maybe, deep down, he wanted you to have it."

I looked at the ring, then turned away. "Zell, why are you doing this? Squall and I...no, it just doesn't exist! There is no 'Squall and I'! It can't work! Why are you torturing me like this?"

"Because we all know Squall best, sometimes better than even he himself knows," Zell replied seriously. "Trust me Sierra, he'll keep on protecting you the way he's been doing ever since you first sought out after Ifrit. He may be a rough and tumble guy on the outside, but on the inside, he cares for you. Rinoa knew it too. I think that's why she asked you to take her powers."

"But I..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I didn't know who or what to believe: Squall, and him being convinced that I was the devil, or Zell and the others, who claim they know Squall better than he himself does.

"Listen, I know you're probably struggling with this right now, so I won't press the subject any further," Zell told me, holding out the ring. "But I won't back off until you take this."

"I...I guess...it wouldn't really hurt to just hold onto it, if Squall didn't mind," I said, taking the ring out between Zell's finger and thumb. "But...I'm afraid to...I can't bring myself to...to wear it..."

"Carry it in your pocket or something at least," Zell replied. "In the meantime, let's forget about all that and move on to the next part of your surprise, ok?"

Zell led me out through the huge lobby and to the elevator. Once inside, I saw him push the button to Cid's office.

'Uh-oh,' I thought. 'This must be the meeting that Quistis was talking about. I hope that Squall didn't tell them anything about me coming in wearing Seifer's coat. But at least it's not the very worst thing that could happen right now, albeit it'd be pretty damned bad..."

"Relax Sierra," Zell told me. "You look like you're going to have a heart attack. This isn't official business."

I stayed silent as just then the elevator announced our arrival to Cid's office with it's pleasant 'ding' noise. The doors opened and I looked around the lobby nervously.

Zell sighed. "Look, come on, no one wants to interrogate you right now," he told me as he took me by the arm. I looked up at him and he smiled. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," I told him, not really noticing that I was quivering like a frightened mouse.

"Liar," he said playfully, as he opened one of the double doors to the office. Conversation could be heard just outside the door, but it stopped as soon as Zell and I entered the room.

"You guys aren't finished your meeting YET??" Zell cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "Come on, I was told 6:00 and here I am! Not to mention that this looks like a ploy to put Sierra on trial! I'm even late!" He turned his gaze to Quistis. "You're making me look bad!"

Quistis giggled as Laguna stepped over. "Don't worry Zell, we were just wrapping up," putting a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, the situation is pretty hard not to talk about at the moment, right Headmaster?"

"Most definitely," Cid replied. "But in the meantime, I don't think too many safety precautions are in order. However, that's all for another time. Right now, we have a surprise for Sierra."

Zell shoved me forward and I struggled to stay on my feet. Cid just smiled at me from across the desk. He had just opened his mouth to speak when Selphie burst in the door with Irvine at her heels.

"I'm here!!" she cried, panting. "Sorry I'm late!!" Behind her, Irvine shook his head and smiled.

"Well, that's just about everybody...except Squall. Where could he be?" Cid asked, looking around the room as he scratched his head.

"He...told us to proceed without him," Quistis quickly spoke up. "He's...ill."

"Understandably," Cid said sadly. "Rinoa was a good girl. I'm sure we will all miss her very much." Everyone was silent for a moment.

"We agreed to hold a special memorial service in her honor," Laguna whispered to me. "You know, for the student body. When the rest of the students hear she died, they'll want to pay their respects too, I'm sure."

"I see," I whispered back. "I think there'll be a big turnout."

"Me too," Laguna replied with a wink. He looked back at Cid. "So, about that surprise..."

"Alright then," Cid said. "Sierra, close your eyes."

I did as I was told and felt someone pick my limp arms from my sides and shove a box into my hands. It wasn't extremely heavy, and I resisted the urge to open my eyes until told.

"Now, open your eyes," Cid's voice said to me.

I did so and resting in my hands was a box wrapped much the same as my gauntlets were when Squall gave them to me the day we were heading out to defeat Ifrit the first time around.

"Hurry and open it! The suspense is killing me!" Selphie cried, looking like she was resisting the urge to leap on me and tear the package open herself.

I was somehow nervous, with everyone's eyes on me. But they seemed sincere, caring, and without another moment between us all, I untied the red bow and slipped it off. I tore off the white paper, and opened the box.

There, lying folded within the box, was an exact replica my black and red outfit that had suffered so much in the last few days. The red pants and shirt, along with the thigh-length black jacket were all folded neatly, and I smiled.

"What's all this for?" I asked.

"You don't seem to have much luck with keeping your clothes intact," Zell told me. "Quistis saw this outfit in Esthar and bought it without a second thought. Of course she got the rest of us to pitch in and reimburse her afterwards, but that's beside the point. And there IS one tiny little alteration made. Look at the back of the jacket."

Confused, I pulled the jacket out of the box and turned it over. There, embroidered in gold, was a very elegant-looking bird. It spanned the whole upper back of the jacket, and I couldn't help but smile.

"It's a phoenix," Quistis told me as I stared at it in awe. "A symbol of rebirth and new beginnings."

"Basically to say that you'll rise out of your gutter of despair and overcome all this bullshit," Zell added. He grinned nervously as Quistis gave him a somewhat stern look.

"Not exactly how most of us would word it I'm sure," Cid spoke up, also eyeing Zell, "but that's the basic gist of it. I suppose it's our way of telling you not to give up."

"Th-thank you..." I stammered. "I...I don't know what to say. I appreciate the gesture. These are really trying times lately..."

"But no reason for you not to live out your life normally," Cid told me directly. "I guess it's as good a time as any to discuss this, because there's not much to discuss." He cleared his throat. "Everyone, we will go about our business. We shall all act like nothing has happened. Sierra, you will continue to train to be a SeeD, so as not to cause any suspicion among the students. As for Rinoa's disappearance, we'll just have to cover it up. I know it may be insulting to her memory, but she wouldn't want an international incident to arise from all of this. A memorial service will be held. Her cause of death was a mission gone wrong. She was taken hostage and killed. Understood?"

Everyone in the room nodded, including myself. I could tell that no one was happy about having to lie about Rinoa's death, and I knew Squall would be enraged, but these were strict orders from Cid, and they would be obeyed.

Before Cid could say another word, there was a knock at the door. "Squall must've decided to join us after all," he said. Irvine, being closest to the door, turned the brass knob and opened it to admit Squall.

But to everyone's utmost surprise and somewhat horror, it was not Squall who walked in, but Rinoa herself. She smiled warmly upon seeing us all.

"R...Rinoa??!" Zell was the first to exclaim. "What the...how??! Are you alright??! What...happened???"

"Why are you all so surprised to see me?" Rinoa asked innocently. "You did realize that you left me behind in Esthar, didn't you?" She crossed her arms and pouted. "Don't tell me that you did that on purpose as some kind of nasty joke!"

"N...no, of course not!" Selphie cried. "We just thought that...but we saw you...Rinoa, weren't you dead??!"

"What?!" Rinoa cried, obviously shocked by this. "No! Whatever gave you that idea??"

"Maybe it was the fact that we put you in the ground!" Irvine was next to say, aiming his gun at her. "Who are you?? And what's your business??"

Rinoa backed away from him, cowering in the opposite corner. "What's...what's going on?? You all recognize me, don't you?? Selphie? Irvine? Zell? Sierra, Quistis, Laguna, Cid?? I can't possibly be dead if I'm here! I know I'm not dead!! I...I don't understand...!" She started crying into her hands. She seemed very frightened.

Cid cleared his throat to break the uneasy almost-silence. "Well, this is a very unexpected turn of events indeed," he said, pushing the call-button on his desk speaker. "Xu, please call Squall up here. And forget plans to put the flag at half-mast. It seems that it's no longer necessary."

"Yes sir," Xu's scratchy voice replied over the speaker.

I gazed over to Rinoa in the corner. Selphie had gone to try and comfort her. She looked up at me, and I could see the confusion in her eyes. I could understand why. Didn't they all have her buried while I was unconscious?

Squall burst in the door at that moment. "What's going on, Cid??" he cried. "Is there some emergen-"He stopped short when he spied Rinoa in the corner.

"Squall, please take Rinoa back to your room for rest and report back here. We've all got some very important business to discuss."

He seemed almost in a trance as he picked Rinoa up out of the corner and headed out the door, with a final look towards me. I was grateful that it wasn't nearly as full of hate as most his other gazes towards me had been lately.

"I guess I'd better go too," I said, moving towards the door. "You've all got some serious debating to do."

"You're just as much a part of the situation as anyone else in this room, Sierra," Laguna said as I rested my hand on the doorknob. "Stick around. There's a few matters that need to be clarified right now."

I turned around and saw that Laguna was smiling at me, so that he didn't hold me responsible for this. The chatter in the room was insanely loud and impossible to follow for just seven people. A moment later, Squall returned, seemingly out of breath, and nearly growled, "Okay, just what the fuck is going on??"

"Your guess is as good as ours is Squall," Quistis told him calmly, "and there's no reason to use such derogatory language in here."

"It's alright Instructor Trepe, he's obviously upset about this," Cid told her. "Who wouldn't be in his situation? I think we are all a little confused right now."

Selphie was still sitting in the corner that Rinoa had backed into at gunpoint, shaking and holding her knees to her chest. "I saw her...she was white as a sheet...saw her lowered into the ground...I swear to you, I was there when we buried her...!" Irvine bent down next to her and pulled her close.

"We all were there," Quistis said, trying to keep her calm but obviously just as shaken as everyone else. "Well, except for Sierra, of course."

"I want to know right now!!" Squall cried. "What's going on?! When did she show up like that??! Why is she so upset??!"

"She came in just now, Squall," Laguna told him firmly. "She says she doesn't remember dying at all. She claims that you all just left her behind in Esthar."

"But that's impossible!!!" Squall nearly screamed. "You all know! You all were there! But you-"He pointed at me. "-were in bed! You were getting nanites pumped through your system!! If this is some kind of fucked-up sorceress trick on your behalf Sierra, I swear, you will pay a thousand-fold!!"

"Squall, stop blaming Sierra!!" Zell yelled at him. "No matter what, she's not to blame for any of this, whether Rinoa died or not! She didn't kill Rinoa for her powers, and she definitely had no part in her walking into the office just now!"

"But there's got to be some explanation!!" Squall yelled back. "I want some answers!!"

"Then perhaps the one you should be questioning is Rinoa," I suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to me and once again I felt that nervousness of having everyone's eyes on me. But I continued, "She's obviously mentally distraught right now, but I think we can make the most sense out of things if we listen to what Rinoa has to say after she gets some rest."

"I think Sierra's right," Cid followed up. "Everyone disburse. Squall, I don't think I have to tell you to go and be with Rinoa right now." Squall left without waiting to hear the rest of the orders, closing the door behind him with a loud 'BANG!'

Cid continued, "Everyone else, like I said, go about your business. We will meet here again at lunchtime tomorrow, not a second later than when the bell rings." He looked towards me. "Sierra, tell your instructor that period that you have my permission to leave class early. Everyone, this meeting is dismissed."

Irvine helped Selphie to her feet and opened the door. Zell followed behind shortly, along with Quistis and Laguna. I left as well, the box with my gift in it still clutched tightly in my hands. My knuckles were white, but I feared that if I let go of the box I would completely lose my grip on reality.

After we all emitted from the elevator, Laguna lagged behind a little bit until he was walking in sync with me. "Got a minute?" he asked, smiling.

"If it'll help clear anything up for me, I've got the entire day," I said in a sigh. "What exactly just happened? I...Rinoa died practically in my arms. I was THERE, I felt her powers pass on to me. It was just a tiny little shock, you know, like you get from static cling sometimes, but it wasn't just my imagination telling me that. For god's sake, she even stopped breathing..."

"Whoa, slow down," Laguna told me, slowing his pace as well as my thought process. "Let's just step away from all of this muddled business for a sec."

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" I asked him, puzzled now.

"I want to talk about you," he said, still smiling. He seemed sincere. "I've been inside everyone else's head already, or rather, vice versa," he added with a small chuckle, "and now I want to try and get inside yours."

"Now I'm really confused," I replied.

"It's a rather long and confusing story," he told me, scratching the back of his head. "But let's go someplace and chat, ok?"

"Alright then," I replied.

"Come with me," he said, offering for me to take his arm. "I've got a suite of sorts Cid rented out to me on this specific visit."

And so Laguna led me to the elevator and to Cid's floor once again. But instead of going into the office, he turned left in the lobby and stopped in front of a door that I had never noticed before. He took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

Inside was a spruced up dormitory, with nicer furniture and drapes, carpet and wallpaper. On the coffee table between two sofas was a vase of fresh, white lilies.

"Heh, they always overdo it when I come to visit," he said, embarrassed. "I keep telling them I'd be fine with a regular extra dorm, but they keep insisting. Must think that since I'm president of Esthar I'm too good for whitewashed walls and unpolished tiled floors."

"One would think you'd get a little accustomed to living the high life," I said, still gazing around the elaborately decorated room. Laguna flicked his shoes aside and flopped onto one of the couches.

"Come on, sit down," he told me. "I have to start making a mess of the place, I've got a reputation to keep up you know."

I chuckled, and he winked. I took a seat on the couch across from the one he was sitting on, trying to gaze around the lilies on the table between us. "So, what do you want to know about me?" I asked, placing my box on the table in front of me.

"Well, let's see. You come from Dollet, right?" I nodded. "That's a good a place to start as any. Any family? Brothers? Sisters?"

"No actually," I replied casually. "I'm an orphan. I lived in an orphanage until I came here, to garden." I smiled sadly. "To tell the truth, it's been kinda lonely without all the others. I don't even have a roommate."

"But everyone here seems to care about you a lot," he replied, nodding towards the package on the table. "You seem to be really important to everyone here already, even my blind son."

"Wait a minute, your son?" I asked. I didn't think I could possibly get any more confused than I already was.

"You're telling me that you didn't notice some kind of resemblance between Squall and myself?" he asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Well, yeah I did," I replied, thinking, "but...he's...your son?"

"He doesn't know," Laguna told me. His smile began to waver. "I think he sees me as just some kind of goofy mercenary who fluked into a cushy job, and whose only link to him at all is Ellone."

"Who is this 'Ellone'?" I asked. I had heard that name before when Laguna mentioned dinner in Esthar.

"Ellone was almost like a big sister to Squall," Laguna explained. "I looked after her since she was small. At one time they ended up at Edea's orphanage together for a little while, then Ellone was determined to come find me. Squall was determined in turn to find her, but Edea wouldn't have it. Squall must've had a lonely childhood because of it, even though everyone else was there."

"But, why didn't you come to take Squall away from the orphanage if he's your son?" I asked, amazed. "I mean, don't you think he would've been happier with you and Ellone?"

"I didn't know at the time," Laguna told me. "I had a wife in Ellone's small town. Her name was Raine. I had to leave for a long while, and while I was gone, Raine bore a child. She died in childbirth, leaving Ellone and Squall all alone without anyone to protect them." He sighed heavily. "For a long time, I didn't even know Squall existed, let alone that he was my son."

"Wow, like a plot twist straight out of a novel," I replied. I paused for a moment. "Why do you think Squall's blind?"

"He has his ways of not seeing the truth when he doesn't want to," Laguna said. "He's blaming you for things because that's the way he wants to see it. He's deliberately trying to push you away for some reason, though if it's a conscious effort or not I really have no idea."

"So deep down," I said, "you don't think he really blames me for any of this?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied. "Of course, if it was just MY opinion, I probably wouldn't dwell on it. But everyone else seems to think so as well."

"You make it sound like no one has anything better to talk about," I said jokingly.

"Yes, you're quite the topic of conversation lately, aren't you?" he replied with a smirk. "Maybe, after everything gets cleared up, you'll be Balamb Garden's new celebrity."

"I don't want that," I said, blushing. "I don't want to be picked out of a crowd. I just want to become a SeeD, that's all."

"You'll shine no matter what you do, sorceress or not," Laguna said, smiling again. "Everyone seems to think so."

"Everyone but Squall," I said dejectedly.

"You care for him, don't you?" Laguna asked suddenly.

I looked up sharply. "What?"

"I just asked if you cared for him," he repeated. "Despite that blinding hatred in his eyes, I see sparks fly between you two whenever your eyes meet."

"I doubt that anything could ever happen between us," I stated, "especially now that it seems Rinoa is back and in perfect health." I realized what I had said. "I mean, I don't wish she was really dead! I just...you know...I missed her and everything, and I'm glad that she's somehow safe, but..." I sighed heavily. "Yes, I care for him. Very much so."

"Doesn't he still protect you, despite what he says he thinks of you?" Laguna asked. "Doesn't he still watch your back and save your hide, even though you had no idea it was coming?"

My mind couldn't help but wander to Seifer and how he earlier saved me at the beach at first, but then I thought about how Squall had protected me from a potential bashing from those nosy students.

"Yeah, he does," I said. "But...strangely, he's not the only one."

"Is that so?" Laguna asked, looking like his curiosity had been aroused. "Well, I won't pry into that, but I think you have to ask yourself; who do you care for more?"

I gazed at Laguna then, long and hard. It was as if he was reading exactly what was on my mind, and offering me the potential to come to the solution on my own. It was so simple, but I needed to hear it from someone else, someone who knew what he was talking about, someone who was a little older.

"You've offered me some strange counsel," I told him, smiling. "Strange, but useful all the same. Thanks."

"No problem," he replied. "But there's still some more I want to know about you. For instance, is Sierra Marcus your given name?"

I thought for a moment. "It's the only name I ever remember having," I said, thinking aloud. "I remember marking my initials on each and every thing I owned when I was little, so I suppose it would have to be my given name. Why?"

"No particular reason," he said with that same mischievous smirk.

"Then why ask a particular question?" I asked, suspicious now.

"Because I'm a particularly peculiar guy," Laguna replied, leaning back on the couch. "I've got to be, what with the way I carry myself."

"Touché," I said. "But I do expect to know why."

"All in good time, Miss Marcus, all in good time," Laguna replied with a wink.

"I'd best be going," I told him as I stood. "This doesn't exactly seem to be 'going about my business'."

"The school day's over now," Laguna pointed out. "So what exactly is your business?"

I thought about that one. Usually, I'd be moping in my room about whatever was bothering me, which, more often than not, had something to do with Squall.

"I'm going for a walk," I decided, picking up my gift from the table, "after I change into these of course. I love showing off new clothes." I grinned.

Laguna laughed at me. "So you're still human," he said, chuckling. "That's good. The powers had no effect on you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You haven't changed at all since you received them," he replied. "I should know, some sorceresses can be really scary. After all, in a way I helped lead the revolution to overthrow Sorceress Adel. That's how I became president of Esthar."

"Wow, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"Yep," he replied. "But anyway, I'll talk to you later I guess. And remember what I said. Squall doesn't really mean all of this. He'll come clean to you sooner or later, I'm sure of it. He may just have to realize it first."

I walked over to the door and stopped. With my hand on the doorknob, I turned around. "Laguna?"

"Hmm?"

"Doesn't it make you sad that Squall doesn't even know his own father?" I asked.

"I guess it does sometimes," he replied, peering at me from the couch. "But if I showed it all the time, it wouldn't be very becoming of me, now would it?"

I smiled. "No, I guess not. Thanks again."

"Later," I heard Laguna say as I closed the door behind me.

Moments later found myself back in my dorm, checking out my outfit in my full-length mirror. The phoenix on the back definitely made the clothes look like a whole different ensemble than the ones I had before, yet they were nearly identical in the make. I smiled at myself in the mirror. 'Clothes definitely make the person,' I thought. 'I feel better already.'

Laguna's information had gotten my hopes up so high that Cloud # 9 was at least a full mile below me. Could it really be that Squall didn't hold me responsible? What exactly was going to happen now that Rinoa had returned? A whole lot of things were up in the air right now, but nothing could stay uncertain forever. I was anxious, but I would be ready for the moment when these issues would come to light.

I pulled the box with my gauntlets out from under my bed and looked at them, I mean REALLY looked at them. Somehow, I thought that these weapons were inhibiting me, like they did more blocking than they did attacking. Shielding me instead of having me on the offence. I felt like I needed something capable of more than just three basic moves, not to mention that even after defeating a T-Rexaur AND Ifrit, I still didn't feel very in control of them.

With this last thought on my mind, I pulled them from their box and strapped them to my arms. I decided that my walk would include some exercise in the training ground.

While on my way there, I thought back to Rinoa. I was happy she was alive, but it was all very strange. Everyone who was in Esthar at the time said that they saw her get buried. Why would EVERYONE lie about it if it wasn't true? Reality was starting to get more and more clouded with each new revelation. I felt a dull ache in my head as I tried to make sense of everything, which told me that I should probably give up for the time being and start finding some enemies to fight.

I entered the training ground and continued my walk. My battles would come to me, so in the meantime I wandered around, admiring the scenery. Eventually, with no battles to my surprise, I came upon a small pond with a tiny island in the middle, just big enough to sit on. It was being fed by a small river, and there were two planks; one led from where I stood to the tiny island, and the other led off the island and onto the adjacent shore.

I moved out of the way of the plank in front of me and sat down by the water. It was peaceful here, and a little more natural-looking than The Quad was, and it could in actual fact be a little more dangerous to go there and run into Squall than to come out here and have to fight monsters for it.

The running water made me feel so calm and peaceful inside. I smiled inwardly as I gazed out over the water. Peace. Now there was a word I had nearly completely forgotten. I hugged my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them as I let my thoughts wander. Somehow, while being here, nothing else seemed to matter.

"Hey! Sierra!" called a voice from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Seifer walking towards me. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with white trim and a white cross on the front, something I guess I hadn't noticed while he was wearing his coat. It had no sleeves and his muscular arms drew my gaze like a magnet. "What are ya doing sitting here? Aren't you supposed to TRAIN in a TRAINING GROUND?"

The smirk on his face was almost insulting. 'Insulting,' I thought, 'but undeniably sexy.'

"This place is way too peaceful to let me even think about fighting," I replied as I tore my eyes away from his biceps and back to the water. "It's calming my nerves."

"Well, is it too much to ask for you to go back to your dorm and get my coat for me?" he asked. "I feel a little naked without it."

'You're anything but right now,' I thought, and I could've smacked myself for it.

"I'm not really incredibly busy," I said as I made to stand. But Seifer came up behind me and pulled me to my feet by my waist.

"That's suit's too new-looking to get dirty," he told me as he dusted me off. He didn't hesitate to flick his hand at my rear end, and I took a step forward.

"I can dust myself off, thank you," I snapped as I started swiping at my butt.

"Hey, what're ya worried about? Nothing I haven't seen before," he replied with that same smirk.

"Except just now you saw with your hands, not with your eyes," I said, blushing madly. I was upset that he'd be this forward. Just because he'd dragged my pantied ass back to dry land, he thought he could try and make the moves on me.

"That's what you think," he replied, taking a step towards me. "You've got a very firm butt. I'd like to touch it again, with your permission this time, of course..."

I slapped him across the face, hard. "How DARE you!!" I yelled. "How dare you touch me when I'm unconscious?! I swear, if I find out you did more to me than just that when you dragged me from the water, I'll go straight to Cid! Do you hear me?!"

"Relax! I was just joking! It wasn't like I could help it! I did have to carry you, y'know," he cried. "Besides, if you went to Cid, he'd know that you weren't on school grounds after your trip to Esthar, and you could get in BIG trouble, couldn't you?"

He was right. There wasn't much I could do if I found out otherwise. "Come on, I'll get your damned jacket," I told him, and started off at almost an angry march.

"Hey, come on, don't be like this!" he cried as he took off after me. "I was only kidding around! And I wasn't serious about using you as my SeeD exam either! I don't think Cid would allow it anyway."

"Listen, it's not like you have to get on my good side," I replied coldly as we walked in sync out of the Training Ground. "We're not together, and nothing is going to change my mind."

"Come on, give me a break here," he groaned as we entered the hallway to the dorms. "Isn't there anything at all I can do to convince you that this is right?"

"Nothing at all," I said as I pulled my key out of my pocket.

"Jeez, I thought that maybe since Rinoa came back that you'd finally leave Squall alone and try your luck with me," he said, crossing his arms and putting on a pouting face.

'He's right,' I thought. 'Rinoa's back, and alive. She may not remember being dead, but who's to say she doesn't remember forewarning me about Seifer?'

I sighed. "Give me some time, Seifer. This isn't a decision I can make easily," I told him as I opened my door and stepped aside to let him in. I followed and closed the door behind me as I made way to my bedroom to retrieve the coat.

"But why not?? You're not going to let Squall keep you as a second forever, are you?"

"I'm not his second, and you can't assume that- Hey, wait a second, how did you know Rinoa was even dead in the first place?" I asked, that fact finally clicking in my head. "That was classified information! In fact, back at the beach, if you were on an errand for Cid, how did you even know that I was a sorceress?? If you were away from garden when we got back, then how could you have known?! Unless..." My eyes widened and I felt another forthcoming slap tingling in my fingertips. "Seifer, you were SPYING on me, weren't you?! You somehow got wind of everything that happened in Esthar and you've been following me ever since!! You...you're stalking me!!"

"Sierra, I can explain-"he started.

"There's nothing you can explain that I don't already know!" I yelled, the pitch of my voice heightened by how scared I suddenly was. I picked his coat up off the floor and heaved it at him in a bundle. "Take your coat and get the hell out of my sight!!"

He unraveled the coat and threw it on his back, shoving his arms in the sleeves. "Just remember this," he told me, his angry features making his face ugly in the semi-darkness of my room. "Seifer Almasy always gets what he wants." And with that, he turned and left, banging my front door behind him.

I knew what I had to do next; I had to talk to Rinoa about all this, once she was a little more mentally stable, and do exactly as she told me to do – stay as physically close to Squall as possible. But I didn't know if it was going to be all that easy.


	9. Chapter 9: Devils Inside the Walls

"Okay, don't be nervous," I told myself as I stood in front of Squall and Rinoa's room door later that evening. "If Squall answers and he looks unhappy to see me, I'll just tell him that I want to have a word with Rinoa about something and then I'll be on my merry way. That's a half truth, because I will for a little while. If he's happy to see me, then I'll just explain that I do need to talk to Rinoa, but I need his watchful eye on me at all times." I ran over my story in my head over again and sighed. "I really don't want to do this." I knocked gently on the door and waited for a reply.

It took a couple of minutes before the door opened a crack. I saw a blue eye spy at me from between the door and doorjamb. "It's you," Squall's voice stated. His one eye darted from side to side for a moment before he said, "Come in."

"Being a little tight on security, aren't you?" I asked. I had taken the fact that he let me in instead of slamming the door in my face as a good sign.

"For good reason too," he said as he locked the door and fastened an extra latch.

"I guess I am to assume that I am not that reason?" I asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of my cheeks.

"I owe you an apology," Squall blurted. It sounded like he had an entire speech ready to go. "I knew that your story must've been true, but I didn't want to believe it. I wanted some kind of explanation to why only Rinoa had to die, but it seems there's a lack of explanations for everything nowadays." He sighed as he threw out his hands. "I knew Rinoa could sense something was wrong, but I guess I was just a little jealous that she went to you instead of me. It makes me so angry to know that I couldn't protect her the way I was supposed to."

"First off, let me say that I didn't know much more than you did, like I said before," I told him. "Rinoa alone knew exactly what was going to happen. She didn't want to alarm anybody, and she didn't want to avert to using her powers, so she made me promise to take them if anything should happen to her. I never knew this kind of thing was going to happen, and if I had I would've tried to find alternate ways to save her. But…I don't know if all of this matters now. She seems to be back with us, and in perfect health."

"That's another thing," Squall told me directly. "I have no idea who that imposter is, but she is definitely NOT Rinoa."

"Are you serious?" I gasped.

"Very," he replied, trying to keep his voice low. "I know Rinoa too well for whoever that is to pull the wool over -my- eyes."

"Have you actually said anything to anyone yet?" I asked, wondering what was going to happen next.

"You're the first one I've told, aside from Cid and a few garden authorities of course," he said, sitting down on his couch. "I thought that would be proper, coupled with the apology I've been rehearsing all day. I'm really sorry. I wish I wasn't so bullheaded sometimes." He gazed up at me mournfully. "Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can," I replied with a smile. I decided not to add that Laguna saw this coming and gave me a heads up. "You've saved my butt so many times in the last few days I think we can call it even, don't you?"

"Fair enough," he replied, smiling back. He held out a hand for a handshake. "Friends…again?"

I hesitated. Friends. What exactly did the word 'friend' mean to him? "Friends again," I said as I shook his hand and sat on the couch with him. "But if that's not Rinoa, then I must heed the authentic Rinoa's advice and ask something of you."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" he asked.

"There were three main things when she was talking to me last," I said. "You know about the promise, so that's one. Another was that I stay away from Seifer."

"Any level-headed person could tell you that one," he replied with a snort.

"Yes, but at the time I couldn't comprehend why," I said, starting to get exasperated. "I was starting to really like Seifer when she came out and told me this and I couldn't understand why she'd want me to do that. But now I know why, and that gives way to the next little piece of advice she gave me."

"And that would be?" Squall asked curiously, yet still with a tone of annoyance. I assumed it had to do with my mention of Seifer.

"To stay as close to you as I can," I said, worried how he'd react.

"A wonder she'd say that," he replied thoughtfully.

"Huh?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"Rinoa and I knew each other better than anyone else," he told me. "She could sense that I had some feelings for you, I know it."

"But…she told me that she didn't think you were letting yourself go astray," I protested. "She said it just meant that I was one of the group, that you accepted me!"

He thought for a moment. "Maybe she wanted to keep us apart until the right time," he said slowly, "since she saw all of this coming long beforehand."

"Perhaps," I said, looking down at my feet and wiggling my toes inside my shoes. He seemed to be accepting the fact that just maybe, Rinoa wanted us together. It also made me feel incredibly guilty about liking him in the first place, despite the fact that she had said she'd rather it be one of us girls have him than some complete stranger. The question was nagging at me, but I was embarrassed to say it. "Squall?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I…" I struggled. "…I…I'm kind of hungry. Would you come with me to the cafeteria? You know, to start looking after me and everything." I couldn't ask him how he felt about me. It wasn't right. He missed Rinoa, and I needed him to protect me, so I didn't want things to be awkward between us if he was constantly going to watch my back. I wasn't going to be stupid and jump the gun right away.

"Sure," he replied suspiciously, like he knew I had something else to say. He stood and went to unlock the door.

"You still didn't say why with all the security," I pointed out.

"I don't want Miss Imposter coming back to my room and poking around," he replied. "There's a lot she could find out, even in this room alone. I've got Cid and a few other garden authorities keeping an eye out for her in case she decides she wants to poke around in any offices. We don't want her to know we're on to her just yet. We want to see what she does."

He held the door for me and locked it behind us once we were in the hallway. We started walking, oddly enough at the exact same pace, and things began to get awkward. I scanned the plain of my mind for a conversation topic.

"Oh, Squall," I suddenly blurted, deciding that this would be a good a time as any to bring it up. "I've got a question about my weapons."

"What about them?" he asked, turning to look at me.

I almost got lost in his deep, blue eyes, but I struggled to keep up with my question. "They don't do too well for attacking, do they?" I asked. "I mean, I think I'm in need of something a little more aggressive. If anything, my weapons seem to be inhibiting me more than helping me."

"What kind of a weapon did you have in mind?" he asked as we strolled out into the lobby.

"I don't exactly know," I replied thoughtfully. I hadn't actually dwelled on that yet. "Something sharp, like a sword. But definitely not a gunblade, I don't think I could lift one, let alone swing it at an oncoming foe." I pondered that for a moment and smiled. "I guess, quite literally, I couldn't use one to save my life.

Squall chuckled. "I suppose so. Well, I guess we have to start looking for your type of weapon then."

"'We'?" I asked.

"I have to keep an eye on you after all," he said, tousling my hair with his hand. "Since I'm going to be around, no reason why I can't help you choose the right weapon for your own personal needs and goals."

"I guess so," I replied, blushing, as I turned in to the cafeteria and took a place in the short line. Supper would be soon and the line would get bigger again, but right now there were only a handful of students in the cafeteria altogether.

"Dammit, I lost again!" I heard a familiar voice cry. Both Squall and I turned to see Zell fuming over Triple Triad with a male student.

"Come on Zell, I gave you 2 out of 3, then 3 out of 5. Hand it over," the guy said. "I think I've been more than a little generous this time."

"Aww, haven't you ever heard of 4 out of 7?" Zell pleaded. "It's my favorite card, Jack! C'mon, give a guy a break!"

"What's going on?" Squall asked as he and I walked over together.

Zell looked up at him like he was going to complain, took a glance at me, and then did a double take. "Whoa, hold on a sec, YOU tell ME what's goin' on!" he cried with that same boyish grin on his face. "This is a sight I was sure I'd never see again! Have you guys made up?"

I turned away, blushing, and I could sense that Squall was doing the same. "I'm just keeping an eye out for her, that's all," Squall told him. "One of Rinoa's last wishes...whether she remembers saying it or not."

"Y-yeah," I said, backing him up. "She told me to stay as close to Squall as possible, remember?"

"Yeah, but man, you were so steamed at each other! Now you're going places together in public! This is a day to celebrate!" Zell exclaimed. "Jack, I'll give you the opportunity at another chance to win my Jaspaera card!"

"I'M the one who's supposed to give YOU another chance!" Jack cried in exasperation.

"Heh, thought I'd just give it a shot," Zell said with a hand behind his head. He reluctantly pulled the card out of his deck and held it out to Jack. Jack grasped it with his index finger and thumb, but Zell didn't seem to want to let go.

I looked at the card. It was a picture of a woman with long, black hair, dressed in amber-colored, celtic robes and holding a flute up to her lips. The numbers on the card, which I were familiar with from playing Triple Triad before, were arranged with an A on the bottom, a 4 on the left, a 6 on the top, and a 9 on the right.

"No wonder you don't want to give it up, Zell," I remarked. "Jaspaera seems like a pretty reliable card."

Zell turned to me and smiled. "So, you know how to play Triple Triad, huh?"

"Yeah, actually I used to have a deck back in the orphanage but I traded them away before I came here," I explained. "I thought that it'd seem like a childish thing to Balamb students, but I guess I was wrong."

"Zell, let go of the bleepin' card!" Jack cried in frustration.

"Hold on a sec, Jack," Zell told him. "Can I have one more chance to win her back?"

"No! You've had too many chances already!" Jack very nearly screamed. He looked like he was about to have a hernia.

"I know I have, but what about Sierra?" he replied with a glint in his eye. "She doesn't have a deck, so she can use mine, along with Jaspaera. If you win, I'll admit you're worthy of my favorite card and hand her over. If you lose, I keep my baby and run free. What do you think?"

"I…I…" Jack stammered. It seemed that he wanted to say no and take the card right then and there, but something else told me that this guy just could not give up a challenge. "No fair, Zell! You know I can't walk away from odds like that! You're on!" He turned to me. "Sit down, and I'll show you what playing cards is all about! I'm one of the CC Group members!"

I looked nervously at Squall. He mouthed the words, 'Go for it!' and gave me a thumbs-up. I smiled and nodded. Zell stood up and I took his place in the chair across from Jack. Zell handed me his cards. Both Jack and I leafed through the cards and chose which ones we would use in our match. I immediately chose Jaspaera. With it being at stake and all, it would be a shame not to use it just this once. Besides her, I selected Diablos, Sacred, Propagator, and Mini Mog.

"Okay, these are the rules," Jack told me, trying to keep a calm demeanor. But he looked like a madman, sitting there with his hand of cards face-down on the table before us. "They're very simple, possibly quite different from that of Dollet's. No same, no plus, no open, just one teeny tiny rule; trade one."

"That seems fair," I replied, knowing in all fact that with these lack of rules he was hoping for an easy win. I was praying that his strategy wouldn't be too hard for me to handle. After all, he had already battled Zell's deck at least 3 times today, and he probably figured that I was going to use Jaspaera in my combination.

But what if I used the lack of the open rule to my advantage? Jack wouldn't be able to see my cards, and I could earn my way without her help. Jack would be taken by surprise, and I could gain the upper hand.

I chose my cards carefully from Zell's deck. He had a decent collection, and by the time I had finished I held Jaspaera, Minimog, Propagator, Sacred and Diablos in my hand. Some of these cards I had thought to be only legends, because the cards back in the Dollet Orphanage were usually second hand - donations made by people who kept better cards for themselves. I knew they existed, but I never thought I'd ever get to play with them.

I started out by laying Propagator in the lower right-hand corner, securing an eight on top and an eight on the left. Besides laying Jaspaera in the top right-hand corner, it was the best move I could have made.

"Playing it safe, I see," Jack jeered. "Well let's start turning things around." Smirking, he laid another card that I had never seen before above my Propagator. It was a little silver animal of sorts, that looked something like a cross between a mouse and a cat, wiht a long, thin tail. It had an A on the bottom, a seven on the left and a two on top, which means it beat my Propagator's top eight.

"Her name is Silvern," Jack supplied, seeing me staring at the cute creature with longing. "But don't get too attached. Though I'm sure you can beat her two on the top, she won't be falling into your or anyone else's hands."

Jack's words didn't daunt me as I tried to decide what I should lay next. He was probably inviting me to play Jaspaera - Silvern seemed like his pride and joy and was probably the best card in his deck. I laid a Sacred card in the upper right-hand corner above Silvern, so that Sacred's nine beat her top two, and was reinforced with a nine on the left side. If Silvern was the best he had, then chances were he couldn't beat Sacred's left nine.

Jack was trying to keep a poker face, but it wasn't working very well. He winced as he looked at the other cards in his hand, and after what looked like a well thought-out decision, he laid Tiamat in the lower left-hand corner, reinforced with an eight on the right and an eight on the top. My hunch had been right - Silvern was the best he had.

'I can't beat it without using Jaspaera,' I thought to myself. 'But I CAN at least match it, and reinforce the right side with an A if I use Diablos.' It had a five on the top, and it was a gamble, but I really didn't want to use Jaspaera until the last move if it was at all possible. So I laid Diablos in the left middle position.

Jack gritted his teeth. That action alone told me that he didn't have a card that was good enough to beat Diablos' top five. I grinned inwardly as he laid down a Torama in the bottom middle position. As it had a seven on the top, it was probably the best card he could lay, and it was another invitation to beat it using the A on Jaspaera's bottom. But I stood my ground as I laid Minimog in the position on the very middle of the board, taking Torama over. Minimog had a nine on the top and the bottom, and since cards had already been laid on either side, there was no worry about Jack beating its left two and right three.

By this time Jack seemed like he was losing his mind. He was breathing heavily and I could swear that I saw a vein pulsating in his forehead. He slapped down a T-Rexaur in the upper left-hand corner, glaring at me from behind his leftover card. Since I had no others left to play, I laid down Jaspaera in the upper-middle position, taking over his T-Rexaur's right six with her left eight and winning the game 6 to 3.

I leapt up from the table, scattering cards everywhere. "I won!" I cried aloud. "Zell, Squall, I won!"

"I knew you could do it," Zell told me happily as he gathered his cards and hastily scooped up Jaspaera, putting her inside his jacket. "And here's your prize for fighting. You won her fair and square."

"NO!" Jack yelled, looking like he was about to cry. "Please Zell, don't! I beg of you-!"

"But she won it on her own, Jack," Zell told him. "It's her pick, she should get to keep it."

"But...but...!" Jack stammered. "At least let me have a chance to win her back! Please Zell! Silvern's a really rare card!"

"Naw, I'm not in the mood to play any more today," Zell replied nonchalantly, pocketing his cards and heading out of the cafeteria with his hands behind his head. "See ya later, Jack. Great game, I'll play you again sometime!" He waved, his back turned to all of us.

Jack turned to me and the desperation on his face was almost unbearable. "Please Sierra! Please, just one more game!"

"Er…this is between you and Zell, Jack," Squall told him as he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back into the direction of the lunch line. "Maybe I'll challenge you again sometime too, okay? Bye!"

"Again?" I asked as we brought up the rear of the line that was rapidly starting to grow with hungry students. "You've played Jack before?"

"You'd be amazed at how many people I've challenged in this garden," Squall replied with a small roll of his eyes. "Not to mention who's challenged me."

It was then that I saw her. Rinoa, or whoever was pretending to be her, was making her way into the cafeteria, looking very dazed and confused. It was as if she'd never even seen the cafeteria before. I elbowed Squall in the ribs and pointed. Upon seeing who I was pointing at, he grabbed me by the arm and ducked behind one of the drink machines to the left of the counter. He held me back behind him with one of his arms outstretched as he watched 'Rinoa' make her rounds around the cafeteria, gaping at this or poking at that. Eventually, when she was satisfied, she wandered back out of the cafeteria and left.

"That was close," Squall said with a sigh as he lowered his arm to let me out from behind the machine.

I nodded, but that little run-in had gotten me thinking. "Squall?"

"Mmm-hmm?" he replied absently, keeping a sharp eye out as we rejoined the line in case Rinoa decided she wanted to come back.

"Have you yet thought how strange this must look to the rest of the students?" I asked, looking up at him.

"What do you mean?" he said, looking down at me, and then around the cafeteria. Indeed, some people were still throwing strange looks in our direction. Most turned away once we scanned the room, but as I looked back up at Squall I could still feel some of their eyes on me, peeping over their shoulders and gossiping madly to one another.

"People are going to start asking questions," I whispered to him. "It's not just strange that you're hanging around with me all of a sudden, but most people would expect you to be spending the bulk of your time with Rinoa. They're all going to think that something weird is going on."

"But what can I do to help it?" Squall whispered back harshly. "I've got to protect you like Rinoa asked. It's the least I could do since I couldn't…protect her…" The last two words got caught in his throat and he choked on them.

It wasn't the time to be sympathetic. "Listen, I know it's hard for you to accept, but we've got to figure out what we're going to do right now. You'll have plenty of time for emotions later, alright?" Normally I'd have been thrilled that Squall was opening up to me like this, but what we needed right now was some skillful planning. I thought for a moment. "Who else knows that Rinoa is a fake?" I had started walking towards the entrance. Food could wait now, even though I didn't really plan on getting anything in the first place.

Squall cleared his throat as we made our way to The Quad. "Cid of course, and by now everyone else will probably know through him. Selphie, Zell, Quistis, Irvine, and…Laguna." It made me quite angry to hear him talk about his own father with such malice. "Hey…I thought you were hungry." He had just now realized we had left the cafeteria.

"This is a little more important," I replied with insistence as I sat on the bench underneath the tree. It was the exact same place where Squall and I had talked, and where he had invited me to come with them to Esthar. 'Funny to think that everything that's happened recently was all fated,' I thought to myself. 'It must've been, for Rinoa to see it coming. I just wish I could've done more…I wish she didn't have to resort to letting herself die…'

"So who do you suggest we turn to?" Squall asked as he plopped down beside me. "Selphie, Zell, Quistis and Irvine are all hell bent on hooking us up, aren't they?"

I wasn't surprised that he knew. "Yeah. So we either turn to Cid…"

"…or Laguna," Squall sighed, closing his eyes.

"What is it exactly that you have against him?" I asked, turning to face him.

"The guy's a complete goof!" Squall exclaimed, exploding into a sudden burst of emotion which I definitely wasn't expecting. "He's got no tact, he's careless about EVERYTHING he does, and he's definitely not cut out to be the leader of an entire country, let alone one that has such advanced technology! I'm surprised the entire place isn't still in shambles under his rule!" He took a deep breath and leaned back on the bench.

"Well, who do you think would be a better ruler for Esthar? Laguna, a goof, or Adel, a tyrant?" I asked calmly. Squall opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. "I think you should give him a bit more credit than you do," I continued. "I mean, he may be a goof, but he has Kiros and Ward to keep him in line and working hard, and I think he has that little extra something that helps people stick together. It's special. Otherwise, do you really think that the people of Esthar would keep him in office for much longer? They all seem like such a…what's the word…picky race."

Squall stared at me with what looked like disbelief on his face. I just smiled back at him patiently. I'd make him appreciate Laguna in any way, shape or form, even if it killed me. After all, they were father and son. It wasn't right for Squall to detest him the way he did.

"You're not suggesting that we go to him for advice, are you?" he asked.

"Why not?" I replied, getting just a tad impatient. "The man would have some words of wisdom on the subject, I'm sure."

"But-" Squall began, before Selphie skidded around the corner.

"THERE you two are!" she cried, panting slightly and pink in the face. "I've been looking all over for you! Cid wants us in his office!" She began to jog off in the opposite direction. When we both continued to sit there, looking puzzled, she turned around and yelled, "NOW!"

Squall and I followed her into the elevator and up to Cid's office, and as per usual, everyone was gathered there, including Laguna. Squall had time to only give him a glance before Cid spoke up. "Good, Selphie found you. I figured the Garden intercom would be too risky to use right now." He gazed around at each of us in turn. "There are evil forces at work here, everyone. We've managed to get some clues as to what's going on."

Murmurs filled the room as Cid turned to Laguna. "President Loire, you may take it from here." Laguna nodded, and placed a small, golden, oddly-shaped object on Headmaster Cid's desk. It had many buttons and lights on it for such a small contraption, which made it look like a miniature UFO. Laguna pressed one of the many gleaming buttons, and immediately the top opened, emitting tiny green lasers which took only a moment to form a small, fully colored hologram of Rinoa. Everyone stopped talking at once and stared, waiting for an explanation.

"Here's the basic lowdown," Laguna began, motioning to the hologram. Personally, I thought this gesture was useless because everyone was already gaping at the figure of Rinoa in awe. "I managed to complete a full-body scan of her just an hour ago with this machine." He picked it up. "This baby is called a V.I.S., or Vital Information Scanner. It will provide you with fingerprints, blood type, DNA composition - anything physical you could possibly want to know about a person. It's usually only carried by Estharian doctors, but as President I find it useful to have one on hand. I compared the information to Rinoa's confidential medical records."

"What did you find out?" Selphie blurted, the question that was obviously on everyone's minds.

"I found," Laguna stated as he set the hologram back on the desk, "that it is, in fact, Rinoa who we are dealing with."

Rushed conversation exploded in the office, and I chanced to gaze up at Squall. He was staring straight at the hologram with a determined gaze, fixated. "I don't care what that machine says," Squall said loudly, and all chatter ceased. "That woman who just recently walked through Garden's doors is definitely NOT Rinoa."

"You didn't let me finish," Laguna replied, as he pressed another of the golden buttons on the V.I.S. The hologram lost its color and morphed into a green, grid form. "PHYSICALLY, she is most definitely Rinoa. Her DNA pattern is identical, as are her fingerprints. However," he continued as he skillfully pushed a series of buttons, "her blood count is extremely low. I also took notice that her heart palpitations are quicker and more abnormal than any healthy person's could be. What this means, is that she has recently undergone some kind of great physical stress and or shock."

"So what you're saying," Quistis chimed in, "is that it's definitely Rinoa, but she's not exactly what one would call 'healthy'?"

"Yes," Laguna replied, switching off the V.I.S. "In fact, from what I and Dr. Kadowaki have both drawn from this analysis, is that she actually did die, but then was revived again quite some time after her death."

"Impossible!" Zell cried. "We buried her! And she was left way too long to be revived with something like a Phoenix Down! Everyone knows that after you've been dead for 5 minutes, it's all over!" (Author's note: Yes, I am aware that some FF8 battles may very well take longer than 5 minutes. Please, much like the GF jewels, bear with me. I'm trying my best to make time relative here. All the same, Gomenesai. -;)

"I think this raises more questions than answers, Headmaster," Irvine said, holding Selphie close to him. "If it is actually Rinoa, why doesn't she remember anything that happened before she died?"

"She doesn't even remember making the plans to go to Esthar in the first place," Squall spoke up solemnly, gazing over his shoulder at Irvine. "I was talking with her, and she was acting like she'd never even heard of Dr. Kurai."

"Then, what do you propose is happening here, Squall?" Headmaster Cid asked, calmly sitting there with his hands folded on top of his desk.

"The only possible explanation that I can come up with," Squall replied, closing his eyes, "is that her memories have been erased as far as she says she remembers, and her body's being used as a puppet."

After the long silence that followed, Quistis started thinking out loud. "That would make some kind if twisted sense. I mean, Dr. Kurai hasn't yet been apprehended, and considering she was after Rinoa's sorceress powers…who knows what other things she can accomplish. For all we know, she could already be a sorceress, just thirsting for more power."

"But that's impossible!" I cried suddenly, not really knowing what I was saying. "That's not right, because Rinoa's powers were-"

"What are you saying, Sierra!" Squall yelled at me. He was glaring at me again, a stern look that told me to shut my face. I clapped a hand over my mouth.

"I…I'm sorry Squall," I said as I lowered my hand. "I just kind of…lost control there, for a second." I looked at him again. He was looking back at me in…contempt? No, something closer to amazement. And as I looked at him, I completely lost what I was about to say.

"Please Sierra, if it will help the situation at all, tell us what you were going to say," Laguna prompted me.

"I…can't," I replied, suddenly feeling a terrible headache coming on. "I just completely forgot what I was talking about. It's gone."

"Just what the hell is at work here!" Zell cried suddenly. "Everything's starting to play out like some sick horror movie." He sighed. "To boot, the worst part about that is the main characters usually have to go through hell before it's all over. All but one of us has been there and back already about sorceresses."

I could feel eyes on me, and I didn't like it. Why was I always the one singled out? This whole mess was definitely not my fault, but at the same time, whether they meant to or not, sometimes they made me feel like it was. All the times when I was stared at because something came up that I wasn't a part of made me feel awkward.

Just then I felt Squall's encouraging arm around my shoulders. "And I'll do it all over again if I have to," he said firmly. "There's no question about it with me as a long as any one of us is in danger. Just like last time, if the wrong person gets power, we have everything to lose. Our friends, our family, our lives, along with everything we could possibly hold dear is on the line here, and I'm not going to sit back and watch it all slip away." He gazed around the room at everyone in turn. "If you're afraid of another Sorceress Hunt, speak up now so that I know you want to be counted out."

There was a brief silence. "There's no way in hell that I'm going to let another war happen!" Zell yelled as he walked over with Squall and I. "We've worked too hard for this peace, and I'll be Goddamned if it gets taken away! I'm with ya, Squall old buddy!" I could swear I felt Squall slightly wince as Zell clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah! Dr. Kurai thinks she's all that, but she can't possibly be a bigger threat than Ultimecia!" Selphie cried as she ran over to join us too. "We fought the battle of the millennium, and we can do it again!"

"If there's a friend in peril, there's absolutely no question about it," Quistis said calmly as she sauntered over as well, smiling. "No matter how big the threat, I just can't ignore a companion in need."

"I guess I'm with you," Irvine said as he walked over too. "Besides, I can't let you all hog the spotlight without me, can I? What kind of pompous womanizer would I be if I let my best friends dash headstrong into battle when I decided to sit at home and play video games?"

As I looked around at everyone in turn, tears came to my eyes. They were all willing to encounter the worst as long as I was their friend. They all were going to stick by me until the end, no matter what it meant anyone had to do. I had never actually grasped the meaning of true friendship until that moment, and it was one I wouldn't soon forget.

Squall looked down at me and said gently, "Don't tell me you're chickening out on me, are you?"

I wiped my eyes as I smiled up at him. "No, of course not," I replied, more tears spilling uncontrollably down my face. "I just…thank you. Everyone. I'll never, ever forget this. It's probably one of those stories I'll end up telling my grandchildren."

"If you think this is heart-wrenching, just wait until we meet up with Dr. Kurai," Zell told me as he laid his chin on my shoulder. "Though she doesn't seem such a threat as Sorceress Ultimecia, I've got a feeling that we're up against some pretty powerful stuff here."

"You're definitely right," Laguna piped up. "Dr. Kurai was another scientist that sorceress Adel deemed worthy of working for her, but Adel favored Dr. Odine over all others for some reason."

"I think this concludes our briefing," Cid interrupted. "Everyone go about whatever leisure activities you wish for this evening. I shall call another meeting tomorrow morning concerning further course of action and orders. You all may go." Though he started rifling through some papers on his desk, I caught a smile on Headmaster Cid's face.

Everyone made to leave, and Squall gave a little tug on my shoulder. "Come on, let's go," he said quietly.

"Just a second, go on without me, I'll be there in a minute," I told him. There was something I suddenly thought might be a good idea to address at the current time, being in Cid's office and all.

Squall gave me an odd look, but nodded curtly and then left with the others. I approached Cid's desk. "Excuse me, sir?"

"What is it Sierra? Surely you don't feel endangered-" he began.

"Oh no, that's not- well, not by Rinoa anyway," I replied. Cid cocked an eyebrow at me. "It's Seifer Almasy, sir. He's kind of… well, harassing me."

"How do you mean?" the Headmaster asked.

"He keeps badgering me to go out with him," I said, giving a bit of a shiver as I remembered for a moment our little interlude on the beach, and then in my room when I accused him of spying on me. "It's making me a little uncomfortable, to tell the truth."

"I shall have a talk with Mr. Almasy," Cid said reassuringly. "That boy has been nothing but trouble since day one. To this day I still do not know how he manages to stay here."

"Thank you, sir," I said, and turned to leave.

"Oh, Sierra?" Cid called. I turned to look at him. "Do not take things with Seifer Almasy lightly. He tends to be rather… forceful at times."

I nodded, and as I stepped out one of the double doors I muttered to myself, "I've been figuring that out."


	10. Chapter 10: Force

After we all left Cid's office, Squall and I walked the hallway aimlessly. "I can't believe someone would do that to another human being," I commented, shivering. "To reanimate a person's dead body... it's so... so... "

"Cruel," Squall finished for me. I nodded. I couldn't imagine how he felt about that. We walked in silence for a little while, and then my stomach made a funny noise.

"I forgot, I didn't get to eat yet," I moaned, holding my rumbling stomach. "Do you think the cafeteria is still open?"

"It may be," Squall mused, "but I doubt there's anything decent left. Let's go take a look anyway."

When we got there, hardly any students were left in the lineup. "Hold the place in line here, and I'll go see what's left in the vending machines," Squall said. "I can still keep an eye on you from over there," he added when I looked at him, concerned.

I watched Squall walk away, but not a moment before he had his back turned to me did Rinoa seemed to come out of nowhere, smiling and waving at me. I looked around frantically, but I then remembered that it could be dangerous if Rinoa managed to be alone with Squall, so I kept my gaze away from the vending machines.

"Hi Sierra," Rinoa greeted me, standing beside me in line. "Say, have you seen Squall?"

"H-hi Rinoa. No, I haven't seen him all day. How are you?" I really didn't know what else to say. "Sorry we left you behind in Esthar."

"Oh, it's okay. I know how pressing SeeD business can be, especially when Cid's in charge," Rinoa replied, waving her hand as if brushing my words away. "I feel better now. In fact," she said, her eyes narrowing on me and grinning in a way I knew wasn't meant to be friendly, "you could say I'm more alive now that I've ever been, since a HUGE BURDEN has been lifted from my shoulders."

My eyes widened in fear. "Wh-what did you just say?" I stammered.

"I said I feel better now," she replied innocently. She looked closer at me, concerned. "Are you okay, Sierra? You look really pale all of a sudden."

"Uh... actually, I'm feeling a little sick, so... so I should go lie down for a while," I replied rather loudly, moving toward the entrance on the far side of the cafeteria, away from where I knew Squall was standing. "I'll see you later okay?" I cried as I started to run off.

As I ran down the hall I knew that it was a bad idea to separate from Squall, but I also knew it would be worse should she get ahold of him alone. I figured that I had talked to her long enough for Squall to realize she was there, so that he could get out of sight and watch from afar. If he was smart enough to do that, he'd have heard what I'd said to her before I ran off, and seen which direction I had run in. That way, he'd know that I'd be waiting for him at my dorm room.

I continued in the direction of the dorms, and almost made it there, when a hand grabbed me on the shoulder. I was abruptly turned around, and who should I stand facing but Seifer. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no... ', the words repeating over and over in my head like a stuck record.

"Hello Sierra," he said, a smirk on his face. "Long time no see."

"What do you want, Seifer?" It was really more of a statement than a question.

"Just to see you is all," he replied, grabbing my upper arm and hustling me in the direction of the dorms. "Let me walk you to your room, since your bodyguard is nowhere to be found. Doing a terrible job, isn't he?"

I squirmed in his grip. "No! Seifer, let me go!" I cried. "Squall's going to be here any minute and-"

"Oh is he?" Seifer mocked, grinning. "Great, then I can lock your door in his damned face!"

I struggled and fought to get out of Seifer's grasp but his grip was so strong that he hardly seemed to notice. He stopped and held me in front of my dorm door. "Open it." It was a command, and I knew that if I didn't do what I was told he'd break down the door himself. Shaking, I took my room key out of my pocket and slowly unlocked it. I was hoping Squall would make it before the locked clicked, but there was not one person nearby, not even a sound of footsteps approaching. Seifer grabbed the key from the door and wrenched it open, throwing me inside. Before I could think to dash past him back out into the hallway, he'd let himself in and locked the door behind him. He dropped the key into his pocket, grinning maniacally at me in the semi-darkness.

"Looks like we're all alone now," he said, slowly approaching me. "There's no one here but you and me."

I darted away, so that the coffee table was between us. "What are you thinking?" I cried. "I told you Squall will be here any minute! He'll break in here if he has to and you know it!"

"Oh no he won't," Seifer said, shrugging off his grey coat and sliding his arms out of the sleeves. "I made sure that Squall was occupied before I came after you. There's no one coming, Sierra. And no one will realize that I'm here until it's too late." He tossed his coat into a nearby chair.

"Wh-what... ?" I whimpered. I didn't want to sound as helpless as I did, but I definately felt it. Seifer was obviously much stronger than I was, and the door wouldn't unlock without the key, which he had. I was completely at his mercy - and he didn't seem to be in a very merciful mood.

"You see, Sierra," Seifer began, still coming slowly towards me, "you've been nothing but a little cock tease since Squall began convincing you to stay away from me." I was backed up against a wall now, and I couldn't get past him. "I don't like cock teases, Sierra. I REALLY don't like cock teases. So I thought I'd show you how much I don't like them, so that you wouldn't be one from now on."

Before I could do anything else, he grabbed me and wrestled me onto the couch. "No!" I screamed. "Seifer, get off me!" I wriggled against him, trying to get free.

"Mmm I love girls who fight back," he breathed, pressing himself against my thigh. "It gets me so hot." Now I was pinned between him and the couch. He took hold of my wrists so I couldn't do anything like hit or scratch him.

"Stop it!" I cried, but he only pressed harder against my thigh.

"Now Sierra," he replied calmly, looking me in the eyes, "I'm much stronger than you are. If breaking your arm is what it takes to make you be a little more quiet I can, and WILL do it."

My lip started to quiver, and I could feel tears starting to well up and run down my face.

"Yes, that's right," Seifer crooned, smiling that wicked smile, "show that you're sorry for being a slutty little cock tease. But you know, I can't accept your apology just yet." He held both of my wrists with one hand as his other starting unzipping my pants, and slipped down my rear to slide them down my legs. I whimpered.

"Does that feel good?" he chuckled, still smirking at me. "Let's see how I'm affecting you, shall we?" His hand started sliding around my hips to my front.

"Please don't," I whispered, tears still running down my cheeks.

"Why not?" he replied. "Don't want me to know how much this is turning you on?"

Just then there was a pounding on my door. "Sierra!" Squall's voice cried. "Sierra, open the door! I know you're there, let me in!"

"Shit," Seifer muttered, climbing to his feet and gathering his coat. I quickly scrambled to pull my pants back on and fastened them again. Seifer, meanwhile, had made his way into my bedroom and had lifted the window open.

"This isn't the last you'll see of me. Sorceress." Seifer reached into his pocket and threw the key at me, then disappeared out the window. I hastily snatched the key from the floor and fumbled with the lock. Before Squall could barge in, I rushed into his arms just outside the door.

"S-Squall!" I cried, sobbing.

"Sierra! What- what's the matter?" Squall's arms folded around my shoulders, holding me. My face was buried in his shirt so I couldn't see his expression, but he sounded confused.

I looked up at him. "Seifer was here! He made me open the door... took the key... called me a cock tease... and... and... oh, SQUALL!" I started crying into his shirt again.

"Where is he?" Squall pried me from his shirt. His voice was low, but thick with rage as he stalked into my room and searched in every corner, every possible hiding place. "Where is that bastard! I'll kill 'im!"

"H-he jumped out th-the window," I hiccoughed. "He th-threw the key back... I d-don't know wh-hy he did that-t... "

Squall came back over to me and led me to the couch to sit down, and held me close. "The keys have tracking devices set into them. The son of a bitch probably knew he'd be found if he kept it on him." He gently rubbed my shoulder as I kept sobbing. He didn't say anything for a while, just let me cry and held me close. After quite some time, I fell asleep with my head in his lap.

When I awoke next, my head wasn't lying in Squall's lap. Squall wasn't sitting on the couch at all - I was alone in my dorm living room. I sat up slowly, and a blanket of mine fell from my shoulders. I smiled a little as I pushed it aside, bunching it up. I was heading to my room to crawl into bed, because it must have been near midnight, when I spied Squall sprawled out there fast asleep. He had taken his jacket and hung it on the back of the chair next to the bed, but besides that was still fully clothed. I made to leave because I didn't want to wake him, but he looked up and smiled at me.

"I hope you don't mind that I passed out here. I didn't want to leave you alone after what happened," he explained with a yawn, propping himself up on one elbow. "If he came back, he'd be coming through here."

"Thanks for sticking around," I said, coming closer and sitting on the edge of the bed. "I was so scared... he threatened to break my arm if I wasn't quiet... " I bit my lower lip.

"Hey," Squall said gently, putting a hand on my arm. "It's okay. Though you really shouldn't have run off without me earlier."

"It was my plan," I replied, straightening up. "I knew you'd probably seen Rinoa, and I said loudly that I was going to go lie down because I wasn't feeling well. I thought for sure you'd know to meet me at my dorm."

"Well Rinoa knew I was standing there," Squall replied. "When you left she pounced me and nearly knocked me to the floor. I was tangled up with her for a while before I could get here."

"But... Seifer had said he'd made sure you were occupied before he came after me," I said, puzzled. "You don't suppose that-"

"He and Rinoa are working together?" Squall finished my thought for me. "It's quite possible. Whether Seifer likes to admit it or not, he's definately attracted to power. He and I were on the same team for my SeeD exam. Because he was bullheaded and wanted to take charge, I passed. He didn't. Then he was Ultimecia's knight, and you know what a situation that turned out to be." I nodded vigorously.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around my room for my clock. I squinted in the dark. "Sheesh, it's after 1am. We should get back to sleep."

Squall lifted up one arm. "C'mere," he said. I shuffled nearer on the bed. He grabbed me and made me lie down with him, holding me close to him again. I could just feel my cheeks flush.

"You don't have to be afraid," he whispered. "I'm here to protect you. Not because you're a sorceress, and not because it's my job - because you're you. I don't want to see you hurt in any way."

"Thank you, Squall." I was sleepy, and starting to nod off again. "You... will you be here when I wake up again?"

"Count on it." He sounded like he was dropping off too.

"Good," I replied. I yawned and closed my eyes. "Good."


End file.
